September 2015 MCAT Thread

[DAF16]

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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[remedy23]

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

Your scores look great! (very consistent)
Your CARS (127) is a great score for McMaster, and you meet the cutoffs for UofT, so if you're from Ontario, that's 3 schools you can apply to (in addition to Ottawa)!
I would only retake if you're confident that you can maintain the same CARS score, and increase your Bio/Chem score by 2-3 points (this would make you a strong applicant to Queen's, and possibly Western for a guaranteed interview)

 

[Gamecock17]

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.

We are MCAT Twins! What the hell were we doing in verbal.?!?!

 

[drbeat14]

Glad things are going well for you all. Those of you say you're going to retake it don't seem to be far off from the score you are working towards, so that's great! Yay!

 

[Youngm2194]

SO HAPPY

515

128/128/131/128 (87, 87, 99, 86 respective percentiles)

My AAMC FL was 78%, 81%, 75%, and 75%....most of the errors on the FL were dumb mistakes that i was able to fix but my bio section was biochem heavy which was a plus for me.

side note but does a 515 (35 equivalent) help a low gpa (3.35ish) due to crap first 2 years and then consistent 3.7-3.8 the last 2 years??

 

[El-Rami]

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?

That would sound about right, actually. I know a lot of smart people in real life with 4.0 GPA that score 30-34 on the MCAT, yet SDN would lead you to believe that these people should score 37+. I have personally interned with a lot of well above-average premeds from around the country, and even for them, scoring around a 30 is not atypical.

 

[squash_fan]

Do you mind me asking what your GPA is? And which extra curricular activities you've done? I'm also aiming for DO. I got my scores back today and I scored a 500. My GPA is 5.2. I'm not sure if I need to retake.

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!

 

[El-Rami]

By the way, for anyone who just wants a "predicted score," choose the lowest between the two of the following: OG or FL. Personally, I scored a lot higher on the FL after taking it again after a few months than on my OG. If I use my very first scores for the FL or my OG scores, the MCAT predictor Excel sheet is fairly accurate. I personally believe using the FL can lead to more inflated scores because its CARS section is simply not representative of the real thing at all. According to how I did on the FL CARS, I should have scored 3-5 points higher on my MCAT exam in the CARS section...

 

[trustme12]

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).

I hope they take that into consideration. Thank you Meredith. It has been a struggle indeed.

 

[RM585]

513 (89th percentile)

129/127/129/128 (93, 81, 93, 86th percentile, respectively)

I'm with you guys on CARS - WTF happened there? Either way, 513 is roughly comparable to a 33, so I'll take it! The only thing that I would be tempted to improve upon is my CARS score, but honestly it's not worth the work/risk (I'm a non-trad with a full-time clinical research gig, so finding the time for round one was rough enough). Congrats to everyone just for taking on the beast, good luck to those wanting to fight again. It'll be worth it.

 

[ChrisMack390]

By the way, for anyone who just wants a "predicted score," choose the lowest between the two of the following: OG or FL. Personally, I scored a lot higher on the FL after taking it again after a few months than on my OG. If I use my very first scores for the FL or my OG scores, the MCAT predictor Excel sheet is fairly accurate. I personally believe using the FL can lead to more inflated scores because its CARS section is simply not representative of the real thing at all. According to how I did on the FL CARS, I should have scored 3-5 points higher on my MCAT exam in the CARS section...

For what it is worth, I wholeheartedly disagree. I thought my real test was very much like all of the AAMC content I did (I also thought the FL and OG CARS sections were very similar).

Not trying to have an argument, just my perspective.

 

[TheDoctorist]

For what it is worth, I wholeheartedly disagree. I thought my real test was very much like all of the AAMC content I did (I also thought the FL and OG CARS sections were very similar).

Not trying to have an argument, just my perspective.

I thought the FL was very similar to the real thing. I scored 89% on the FL and a 93 percentile on the real thing.

 

[mcoope44]

By the way, for anyone who just wants a "predicted score," choose the lowest between the two of the following: OG or FL. Personally, I scored a lot higher on the FL after taking it again after a few months than on my OG. If I use my very first scores for the FL or my OG scores, the MCAT predictor Excel sheet is fairly accurate. I personally believe using the FL can lead to more inflated scores because its CARS section is simply not representative of the real thing at all. According to how I did on the FL CARS, I should have scored 3-5 points higher on my MCAT exam in the CARS section...

I got 50/53 on the AAMC FL and 28/30 on the OG. Based on that I was predicted to score around a 129 +/- 2. I ended up scoring 132. The verbal on the real test was the same as the FL and OG, and if you perceived any difference it was most likely due to stress. It doesn't make sense for them to make the real test harder randomly in one section, if anything you were unlucky with the passages you got and happened to receive topics that are more difficult for you than average. Realistically though it was probably nerves.

 

[El-Rami]

Actually, I was not stressed at all during the exam. Stress was not a factor. If you go back and look at all my QPack scores and OG, you see that there was a huge difference between FL and the rest of AAMC materials. The questions were similar in style to the real exam, sure, but they were relatively easy. You may have thought they were similar or the same in difficulty for the verbal on your exam, but on mine that was not the case. 98% of the questions right on FL vs 68-85% correct on CARS QPack 1-2a, 77% correct on OG CARS. There is a huge difference in those scores. On the AAMC FL, I could very easily eliminate 3 options, but on the other materials, it was often 50:50.

 

[yuz13001]

I feel like I should be very happy about my score, but I'm not sure how to interpret my CARS...

518: 132/126/131/129

Does anyone have any input? This is pretty imbalanced... right?

My score is the same hhh. I am also wondering if I should retake the CARS..
Personally I am thrilled to get 126 in CARS as a non-English-native-speaker, but feels like it's not a very competitive score (around 9 in old mcat.)

 

[radioactive15]

This was the weirdest test I've ever taken...

AAMC FL:
PS- 76%
CARS- 64%
BS- 86%
PSY- 90%

Real:
91 percentile overall. CARS had dramatic improvement while Biology had a dramatic decline

 

[ChrisMack390]

@yuz13001 With a perfect score on chem and nearly one on bio, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Biswas]

Honestly out of all my scores, I'm most happy with my CARS LOL. Got a 127 but had never made that high on a practice exam! The predictor actually said I would get 123-127 on CARS so I'm very glad I got the max! I went back and converted the score and 127 (81st Percentile) on CARS is approximately a 10 on the old MCAT verbal. This is a good score for a section right??

 

[Asian-nerd]

496! Don't know if I should apply to any MD Schools with this score...already accepted to a DO school!
CARS just killed me everything else looks avg

May I ask what your GPAs are? I got 500 on my MCAT. I'm going to apply for DO schools only. Your post really gave me some hope.

 

[jimmypod]

My score is the same hhh. I am also wondering if I should retake the CARS..
Personally I am thrilled to get 126 in CARS as a non-English-native-speaker, but feels like it's not a very competitive score (around 9 in old mcat.)

I do not think I will be retaking it in case this affects your decision at all. I think there are much better ways to be productive with your time than to bump up an already competitive score to break the "520"-barrier by increasing your CARS score. I think that a 9 (126) is by no means a deal breaker, and if anything will just warrant a question or two as to why the score was seemingly unbalanced. Our physical and biological sciences sections are definitely great, and our psychosocial sciences section competitive as well.

Use that extra time you would spend studying to instead work on clinical things like volunteering or research. Maybe even spend it pursuing a hobby. I know that I will be getting back into art, and will probably aim to depict the entirety of human anatomy within 2 years (similar to the Heidegger Atlas) I do want to become a surgeon, and will be exploring anatomy to keep me satisfied until then.

 

[PharmHoppe]

So disappointed with my CARS. I thought it will be my highest.

Actual exam
CP 79% 127
CARS 44% 124
BB 54% 125
PS 86% 128
total : 504

Practise AAMC FL
CP 81%
CARS 81%
BB 80%
PS 76%

I think my raw CARS for the actual exam might be in the same range with the AAMC FL BUT maybe most people did as well leading to the lower percentile. could this be right? I felt super confident after that section for real.

 

[medgirl1993]

SO HAPPY

515

128/128/131/128 (87, 87, 99, 86 respective percentiles)

My AAMC FL was 78%, 81%, 75%, and 75%....most of the errors on the FL were dumb mistakes that i was able to fix but my bio section was biochem heavy which was a plus for me.

side note but does a 515 (35 equivalent) help a low gpa (3.35ish) due to crap first 2 years and then consistent 3.7-3.8 the last 2 years??

how did you prepare for the exam?

 

[dent_pin]

.

 

[Chosey]

MCAT 517 (96th percentile)
C/P 131
Cars 128
B/B 130
P/S 128
AAMC FL
80%
91%
85%
83%
2nd time test taker (29 73rd percentile)
Hope this helps cheer on those looking to retake! Dont give up!

 

[bdeben23]

Wow...I was pretty upset with my score today.

It was my first time writing and I scored 506 (71st percentile).

125/127/126/128

Sorry in advance for the novel...

I knew that the first section killed me. I have never taken general chem, orgo, physics or biochem (at least since maybe grade 10) so it was pretty tough to learn all that from scratch but tried my best. I was just hoping for a 125 to meet U of T's minimum cut off.

What really surprised me though was the rest of the sections. I walked out feeling like I killed psych/soc. I also felt really confident about bio/biochem, and extremely confident about CARS.

First question - For those who took the test again and drastically improved - was there something specific you felt like you did differently that helped you?

Second question - My applications are already in for OMSAS since the due date has of course passed. But does anyone have any advice for me about whether I should even bother applying to the US with this MCAT score? I can only apply to 4 of them (Albert Einstein, Keck, U of Virginia, Sidney Kimmel) since I don't have the required pre-requisites for the rest.

I did my undergrad in neuroscience for 5 years...I had a 3.8 GPA during the last 3 years but my first 2 years brought my cumulative GPA down to 3.5 (at least according to OMSAS...still confused as to how the average might change with AMCAS calculations). I just completed a research-based MSc in physiology & pharmacology and I have publications, research experience, clinical experience, volunteer experience abroad, oral/poster presentations etc. & 3 strong reference letters.

But this MCAT score combined with my cumulative GPA worries me.

Thanks a lot and congratulations to everyone!

 

[abc1014]

515!

Completely surprised me! I had already started studying for a retake in January, but I don't think that's necessary now.

Actual MCAT:
C/P: 128
CARS: 128
B/B: 129
P/S: 130

AAMC FL
C/P: 67%
CARS: 98%
B/B: 67%
P/S: 80%

Based on my AAMC, I thought I'd do better on CARS than what I did, but I'll gladly take my score!

Congrats to everyone, and good luck on the rest of our journeys!

 

[Chosey]

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!

DEFINITELY memorize Amino acid structure and name and abbreviations!!! cannot stress this enough. I almost didn't but my bf made me and it was prolly the best decision ever. Just do it.

CARS: reading about 3 passages a day for 2-3 months really works!! (khan's academy is good, anything works reli, I used EK 101 passages book) i m not sure how but it def worked for me,by the end i was a lot more comfortable reading and u pick up on whats important naturally after that many practice passages. Highlighting is very important!

 

[AirplaneFruit]

I scored a 508 and 512 on TPR and around 80% on the Sample Test.

I somehow got 520+! What the heck

Please nobody tell me that AAMC has a history of messing up their score reports?

 

[Jennzilla]

I'm not even sure how I got a 496 (124/121 (WTF?!)/125/126)... This is waaaaaaaay worse than any of my practice scores. I was hoping for a 506 to apply to DO schools and some MD schools around here. I'm very shocked.
Oy, now I gotta figure out when to retake the exam.

 

[howlcat]

Your scores look great! (very consistent)
Your CARS (127) is a great score for McMaster, and you meet the cutoffs for UofT, so if you're from Ontario, that's 3 schools you can apply to (in addition to Ottawa)!
I would only retake if you're confident that you can maintain the same CARS score, and increase your Bio/Chem score by 2-3 points (this would make you a strong applicant to Queen's, and possibly Western for a guaranteed interview)

thank you remedy, your feedback is really helpful. means a lot to me. Yeah i realized that I can apply to three schools for sure. Do queens and western really emphasize the other sections as well? I couldn't get any data online...and I'm not sure whether I should risk retaking it just for the sake of improving my scores. But i will definately consider it

 

[AR0113]

Canadian applicant here. Thought I'd contribute to the data.

AAMC FL
C/P 59%
CARS 75%
B/B 81%
P/S 71 %

Actual
C/P 128
CARS 125!!?? I thought this would be my highest section...
B/B 130
P/S 127
Total 510

Tips on a retake?
Dalhousie has listed their minimum to be 503 for the new mcat and a 30 for the old mcat. Could this be a sign for other med school cut-offs as well???

 

[TheDoctorist]

thank you remedy, your feedback is really helpful. means a lot to me. Yeah i realized that I can apply to three schools for sure. Do queens and western really emphasize the other sections as well? I couldn't get any data online...and I'm not sure whether I should risk retaking it just for the sake of improving my scores. But i will definately consider it

Hey Howl, as an Ontario resident also going through the gruesome process of med applications, I'm going to be as blunt as possible (because that's what I would want from others).

I would suggest you retake your exam. A 506 will not do you any favours when applying to Ontario schools (except ottawa who doesn't consider it).
I would suggest retaking the CARS as well, since McMaster (prefers over 11) and Western has a cutoff of 11 (which is approximately a 128).

I think you would do much better the next time around. My first MCAT which I took well over 2 years ago was a 30, and now i'm sitting at a 520.
I know you can do it.

 

[remedy23]

thank you remedy, your feedback is really helpful. means a lot to me. Yeah i realized that I can apply to three schools for sure. Do queens and western really emphasize the other sections as well? I couldn't get any data online...and I'm not sure whether I should risk retaking it just for the sake of improving my scores. But i will definately consider it

Hi howlcat,

Although Queen's doesn't disclose their cutoffs, based on forum posts I've read, it seems that they require a 32 on the old MCAT (with no lower than 10 in any section), and Western requires strict 12-11-9 cutoffs for BS/VR/PS (for the old exam). I think your score is great, it may not be worth re-writing it, because, you have to maintain / +1 your verbal score AND gain a few points in BS. That's just my opinion. Unfortunately, I'll have to re-write because of a 124 in CARS

 

[waitaminute]

519 (130/127/130/132) Yay! Today's been a good day

AAMC Fl: (91/87/93/88)

Oh boy your comment really freaked me out... You might be right about the inflation. Would you post your score if you had scored poorly? I think I would.

Based on what I've seen here and on my own scores, I'd say the predictor is actually quite accurate. Maybe a little bit of inflation, but overall it should be a good indicator in the absence of significant confounding variables. I'm not sure what I would've done if my score was poor...I don't really like to think about it haha I'm sure you did fine!

 

[raisondetre]

First time posting on here, but I thought I would add my scores in to help with predictions:

AAMC FL: (75/85/80/83)

Actual: 515 (129/129/130/127)

Best of luck to the rest of you!

 

[CharuMD]

May I ask what your GPAs are? I got 500 on my MCAT. I'm going to apply for DO schools only. Your post really gave me some hope.

My gpa is 3.927!

 

[CharuMD]

Do you mind me asking what your GPA is? And which extra curricular activities you've done? I'm also aiming for DO. I got my scores back today and I scored a 500. My GPA is 5.2. I'm not sure if I need to retake.

3.927! Focus on primary care, 120+ shadowing, 200+ volunteering, non-clinical jobs, mission tip, 1 sem of research, public health research, undeserved background, nonnative speaker, instate....
Your gpa 5.2?!?

 

[Doctor Dream]

Hey sorry I'm late to the party, gang! Here's my breakdown

REDACTED FOR APP CYLCE, WILL POST AGAIN LATER

AAMC FL (taken 2x's, 1st time at beginning of studying was 83%/85%/75%/66%, 2nd time 1 week out from exam was 92%/92%/92%/90%)

Wishing that CARS was a little higher, not sure what happened, I honestly thought it'd be one of my best sections. That does NOT mean I'm going to retake though, I can't justify retaking a 126 (which is equal to 9 on the old scale) when everything else looks great. Happy to be done!! LOVE my bio score

Side note - when I finished my exam I thought my breakdown would be like 127/129/129/128, definitely thought C/P was my worst. Just shows you never know until your score is posted!

 

[snow36]

Slightly late as well, but happy!! --

AAMC practice FL:

PS/CHM: 90%
CARS: 89%
BB: 86%
PSYC/SOC: 85%

Actual:

513

PS/CHM - 129
CARS --- 125
BCHM/BIO -- 131
PSYC/SOC -- 128

89th percentile

So roughly 32-33 on the old exam?

My score was on the lower end of the broad range from the AAMC prediction tool (I was between 513 to 524 for broad range)

I'm surprised I did so bad on the CARS section, I do remember having a lot of doubts with my answers but no more so than in the other practice tests I completed.. 125 isn't an extremely terrible score though.

Congratulations to the rest of you guys too!!

 

[PooshBag]

AYYYY!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE SO FAR! I'm so happy to read of these good scores. I'll be posting in my WAMC threads eventually now that i have an mcat score, as i assume many others will be.

 

[SpongeBobDude]

Hey guys, those of you who did well on Bio section what prep material were you using and what is most important aspect to focus for Bio?

 

[El-Rami]

Hey guys, those of you who did well on Bio section what prep material were you using and what is most important aspect to focus for Bio?

I studied from Kaplan biology and biochem, and for practice I used primarily questions to get it down. I scored 129 in bio btw.

 

[Doctor Dream]

Hey guys, those of you who did well on Bio section what prep material were you using and what is most important aspect to focus for Bio?

I went through the AAMC outline and made Anki flashcards for the every bullet point, and reviewed those every day. I also went through the EK bio books and made sure I knew those inside and out, and things I had never learned like immunology I watched multiple Khan academy videos on. I also just had Biochemistry and genetics the semester before which I think really helped aid my studying. Beyond that, takes LOTS of practice exams, can't stress that enough. You can know the material inside and out, but when you get convoluted passages about weird experiments, it REALLY helps to have done a lot of FL's and have actual exam experience. AAMC loves their amino acids and biochem stuff, and I knew all that shiz inside and out, definitely make sure you know them all like they're your best friends.

Forgot to say, I scored 131 on bio, and felt confident going into the exam and coming out that I'd do well on that section.

 

[jimmypod]

Hey sorry I'm late to the party, gang! Here's my breakdown

514 - 129/126/131/128

AAMC FL (taken 2x's, 1st time at beginning of studying was 83%/85%/75%/66%, 2nd time 1 week out from exam was 92%/92%/92%/90%)

Wishing that CARS was a little higher, not sure what happened, I honestly thought it'd be one of my best sections. That does NOT mean I'm going to retake though, I can't justify retaking a 126 (which is equal to 9 on the old scale) when everything else looks great. Happy to be done!! LOVE my bio score

Side note - when I finished my exam I thought my breakdown would be like 127/129/129/128, definitely thought C/P was my worst. Just shows you never know until your score is posted!

Your enthusiasm is actually the best hahhaahah

 

[Doctor Dream]

Your enthusiasm is actually the best hahhaahah

Thanks haha, I can almost guarantee you if I posted "should I retake" in the pre-allo area, Goro would say he'd smack me upside the head if I did. 126 isn't ideal, but it's not awful either, and given my other scores I really don't think it's necessary to retake. I'm not gunning for top 20's either, I have a couple schools I really want to go to and that's about it. I'll apply other places obviously, but my stats are fine for what I want to do.

 

[Teioh]

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.

Such a clutch performance. 9/23 test taker here with a slightly higher AAMC FL. I can only hope to get close to what you got.

 

[bdeben23]

Hey guys, those of you who did well on Bio section what prep material were you using and what is most important aspect to focus for Bio?

This is coming from someone who did not do so well...but my advice really mirrors everyone else's. The section was super biochem focused (which I have minimal background in) and tested much less on biology/physiology (which I'm really strong at). While that might have contributed to my lower score of 126, I felt like I actually had a really good grasp of the material going in and definitely knew/understood my amino acids inside and out. I think the main reason I scored 126 (which is lower than what I tended to score with Kaplan's tests) was that I wasn't used to the passages being as convoluted. I definitely agree that the most important thing is to do as many practice exams as possible. I personally completed every single full length that Kaplan had to offer (and rigorously reviewed them). But if I had to do it over again (which I probably have to do lol), I'd get as comfortable as possible with those passages that expect you to extract the answers from those detailed experiments.

 

[jimmypod]

Thanks haha, I can almost guarantee you if I posted "should I retake" in the pre-allo area, Goro would say he'd smack me upside the head if I did. 126 isn't ideal, but it's not awful either, and given my other scores I really don't think it's necessary to retake. I'm not gunning for top 20's either, I have a couple schools I really want to go to and that's about it. I'll apply other places obviously, but my stats are fine for what I want to do.

Oh yeah I would probably club a spheal if you did. And I feel your pain with the 126. That exact pain. Hahahah but I guess there's no use crying over spilled milk.
I feel like after taking this test and getting satisfactory results back that there is just so much more to do in this world (and I'm sure you would agree. )

 

[AirplaneFruit]

For Bio:

Take biochem and a molecular biology course that makes you read/discuss/write reviews on research papers.

I got a 132 on that section and spent way less time on content review / passages on it compared to PhysSci and Psych/Soc.

 

[Doctor Dream]

Oh yeah I would probably club a spheal if you did. And I feel your pain with the 126. That exact pain. Hahahah but I guess there's no use crying over spilled milk.
I feel like after taking this test and getting satisfactory results back that there is just so much more to do in this world (and I'm sure you would agree. )

Hahaha "club a spheal", love it. And I absolutely agree, we both did great. Time to reap the benefits of all our hard work, no looking back! I fully intend to celebrate with friends this weekend by getting hammered

 

[Pediateix]

Anyone think they missed a few easy questions yet still got a great score ?


I have to wait until the 27 but if it doesn't go well again and again I will have to wait until April