Should I retake the MCAT?

[petomed]

First attempt in May this year, scored a 503 (127 / 123 / 126 / 127). I see the 123 on CARS as a red flag for most schools. I'm personally disappointed because it's the lowest score I received among all my timed AAMC exams for every section, save physics/chemistry. The 'why' is simple: I'm a slow reader. I had a great plan for this and felt ready for CARS on exam day, as I was averaging 127 with the strategy I settled on. But each passage on that section was much longer than I had anticipated and I straight up choked half way through when I saw that I was a passage behind on my timing. My strategy went out the window and the 123 says it all. I couldn't shake CARS from my mind the rest of the test and scored 2 pts lower than my average on the BB section and 1 pt lower than my average on P/S. I do believe I can do significantly better this time around 'if' I don't have a similar experience on the CARS section. To this end, I'm prepared for longer passages and won't be tossed if that happens. The retake score would in theory be similar to 509 = 127 / 126 / 128 / 128.

My application is still being verified by AMCAS, but AACOMAS has my verified GPA's as science = 3.52, all other = 3.48. I understand the two applications will calculate the GPA's differently, but you can see I will likely land at 3.50 regardless of how things are chopped up.

I believe my application is otherwise competitive. I have a 3.85 from my master's degree and a 4.0 from my post-bacc pre-req courses. 400+ hours volunteering in the ER, continuously, since deciding on this path. I've shadowed two PCP's (1 at a FQHC and 1 non-FQHC) and an ER doc. I've married into the field (wife is a nurse, getting her NP license). I have 7 LOR's that form a committee letter. All from people who actually know me, 1 from the DO I shadowed at the FQHC, another from a MD. And like so many other non-trads, I've lived. That's not poo poo'ing on regular pre-med's, but is to say I've had extra years on my docket, during which I've likely learned more lessons than someone else who hasn't had those years.

I don't care if it's DO or MD, I just want to be a doctor. I know the 503 shuts me out of nearly all MD schools and I fear the 123 also closes me off from most DO schools. I'm scheduled right now to take the MCAT again at the end of this month. I'm just not sure how it may help or hurt my chances.

So, is it worth the risk?

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[Goro]

If you're gunning for MD, yes.

If you're fine with DO, then no

 

[petomed]

Getting into one school is the goal. But getting into more than one means options to consider in relocating my family. If a higher score can field this, then it's worth it. If scoring the same or 'not high enough' will compromise this, then it's not worth it.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

First attempt in May this year, scored a 503 (127 / 123 / 126 / 127). I see the 123 on CARS as a red flag for most schools. I'm personally disappointed because it's the lowest score I received among all my timed AAMC exams for every section, save physics/chemistry. The 'why' is simple: I'm a slow reader. I had a great plan for this and felt ready for CARS on exam day, as I was averaging 127 with the strategy I settled on. But each passage on that section was much longer than I had anticipated and I straight up choked half way through when I saw that I was a passage behind on my timing. My strategy went out the window and the 123 says it all. I couldn't shake CARS from my mind the rest of the test and scored 2 pts lower than my average on the BB section and 1 pt lower than my average on P/S. I do believe I can do significantly better this time around 'if' I don't have a similar experience on the CARS section. To this end, I'm prepared for longer passages and won't be tossed if that happens. The retake score would in theory be similar to 509 = 127 / 126 / 128 / 128.

My application is still being verified by AMCAS, but AACOMAS has my verified GPA's as science = 3.52, all other = 3.48. I understand the two applications will calculate the GPA's differently, but you can see I will likely land at 3.50 regardless of how things are chopped up.

I believe my application is otherwise competitive. I have a 3.85 from my master's degree and a 4.0 from my post-bacc pre-req courses. 400+ hours volunteering in the ER, continuously, since deciding on this path. I've shadowed two PCP's (1 at a FQHC and 1 non-FQHC) and an ER doc. I've married into the field (wife is a nurse, getting her NP license). I have 7 LOR's that form a committee letter. All from people who actually know me, 1 from the DO I shadowed at the FQHC, another from a MD. And like so many other non-trads, I've lived. That's not poo poo'ing on regular pre-med's, but is to say I've had extra years on my docket, during which I've likely learned more lessons than someone else who hasn't had those years.

I don't care if it's DO or MD, I just want to be a doctor. I know the 503 shuts me out of nearly all MD schools and I fear the 123 also closes me off from most DO schools. I'm scheduled right now to take the MCAT again at the end of this month. I'm just not sure how it may help or hurt my chances.

So, is it worth the risk?

Ugh, tough break. That's really frustrating.

I'm on the fence about your situation. I am leaning towards not retaking and just letting the chips fall where they may with a DO-focused cycle. Even if you had scored a 509, you were probably mostly competitive for DO anyway given your science/cumulative GPAs.

So, if I were you, I would not retake. I think you should pivot to a DO-focused cycle, while still applying to state MD programs (unless you're in CA). I am not very familiar with DO schools, but I would quickly check which ones don't have hard and fast MCAT subsection cutoffs and target those schools. I think you still have an OK shot at DO, especially with your strong ECs and interesting background. People with worse stats than you have successfully gone DO.

If you are absolutely set on retaking the MCAT (or this upcoming cycle doesn't work out), I think you should make sure you're extremely comfortable with CARS before you schedule a new exam. I don't think that retaking it later this month will give you enough time to really overhaul your CARS strategy.

 

[petomed]

Ugh, tough break. That's really frustrating.

I'm on the fence about your situation. I am leaning towards not retaking and just letting the chips fall where they may with a DO-focused cycle. Even if you had scored a 509, you were probably mostly competitive for DO anyway given your science/cumulative GPAs.

So, if I were you, I would not retake. I think you should pivot to a DO-focused cycle, while still applying to state MD programs (unless you're in CA). I am not very familiar with DO schools, but I would quickly check which ones don't have hard and fast MCAT subsection cutoffs and target those schools. I think you still have an OK shot at DO, especially with your strong ECs and interesting background. People with worse stats than you have successfully gone DO.

If you are absolutely set on retaking the MCAT (or this upcoming cycle doesn't work out), I think you should make sure you're extremely comfortable with CARS before you schedule a new exam. I don't think that retaking it later this month will give you enough time to really overhaul your CARS strategy.

Thanks for the detailed reply. What about if I retake and void the result unless I really feel good about the test that day?

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Thanks for the detailed reply. What about if I retake and void the result unless I really feel good about the test that day?

Let me ask you a question in response - why didn't you void it last time, if you knew that it wasn't going well while you were taking it?

 

[petomed]

Let me ask you a question in response - why didn't you void it last time, if you knew that it wasn't going well while you were taking it?

Fair question. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt. I figured that I had studied so much and was in a good place for CARS that if I felt it was really long and difficult to finish, odds are that others felt the same way. I hoped it wasn't just me and my slow reading speed. Dead wrong of course. Additionally, I felt the chem/phys section played unusually to my strengths that day. Perhaps, everything wasn't as bad as I thought. You know, take the average of all other AAMC exams, etc.

Anyway, I've certainly learned that if I felt like I rolled my ankle, the intuition is likely correct. So this time around, I wouldn't make the same mistake twice, concerning choosing to void.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Fair question. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt. I figured that I had studied so much and was in a good place for CARS that if I felt it was really long and difficult to finish, odds are that others felt the same way. I hoped it wasn't just me and my slow reading speed. Dead wrong of course. Additionally, I felt the chem/phys section played unusually to my strengths that day. Perhaps, everything wasn't as bad as I thought. You know, take the average of all other AAMC exams, etc.

Anyway, I've certainly learned that if I felt like I rolled my ankle, the intuition is likely correct. So this time around, I wouldn't make the same mistake twice, concerning choosing to void.

It sounds like you’ve picked up the point I wanted to convey. If you really think that what happened was flukey and you can turn CARS around in a month AND you are confident you will make the right call about whether to void the exam, then all you have to lose is your money.

 

[Dral]

I'd say hold off for now. You are ok with MD or DO so go with what you have and see how the cycle goes. As long as you apply intelligently, you could have a successful cycle.

If you don't have a successful cycle, then I would say retake. If you do, try to find a resource that lets you take timed exams in a manner as close to the real thing as possible.

I'm not suggesting you have to pay for a course, but I took a Kaplan course back in the day. They had us take full length timed exams in their classrooms the few weekends leading up the real thing (including a full length both on saturday an sunday the weekend before the real thing).

By the time I got to the real thing, timing wasn't even close to an issue...by that point, taking the exam was like my job. I did significantly better than I had on my previous 2 attempts.

And to speak to the conversation going, after taking so many standardized exams, I find it hard to determine how I have done. I feel it's tough for anyone outside of something very obvious (computer glitch, getting ill during the exam, etc). I left step I not feeling so hot at all about it, but I did pretty well. I was pretty sure I could have failed my specialty board exam but passed.

I'm not saying my personal insight applies to all, but just keep in mind that it could be tough to tell. You could void the exam because your brain focused on just a few really tough questions you perseverated on, but in reality you may have done really well.

 

[petomed]

I'd say hold off for now. You are ok with MD or DO so go with what you have and see how the cycle goes. As long as you apply intelligently, you could have a successful cycle.

If you don't have a successful cycle, then I would say retake. If you do, try to find a resource that lets you take timed exams in a manner as close to the real thing as possible.

I'm not suggesting you have to pay for a course, but I took a Kaplan course back in the day. They had us take full length timed exams in their classrooms the few weekends leading up the real thing (including a full length both on saturday an sunday the weekend before the real thing).

By the time I got to the real thing, timing wasn't even close to an issue...by that point, taking the exam was like my job. I did significantly better than I had on my previous 2 attempts.

And to speak to the conversation going, after taking so many standardized exams, I find it hard to determine how I have done. I feel it's tough for anyone outside of something very obvious (computer glitch, getting ill during the exam, etc). I left step I not feeling so hot at all about it, but I did pretty well. I was pretty sure I could have failed my specialty board exam but passed.

I'm not saying my personal insight applies to all, but just keep in mind that it could be tough to tell. You could void the exam because your brain focused on just a few really tough questions you perseverated on, but in reality you may have done really well.

These are good insights, thanks for the reply. I'm not trying to toss aside the wisdom here. I appreciate so far that the recommendations are skewed toward not re-taking. What I would like to know more about is why? Sure, I could score worse. That would no doubt end this cycle for me. I wouldn't have created this thread though if I believed I will score worse, so to me scoring worse doesn't factor into the argument against testing again. What if I don't score worse?

Do I need to improve on all my MCAT sections or else my app will look worse? If so, how much better do my scores need to be? For example, if I score the same on the other three sections but bump my CARS score from 123 to 125, am I screwed? If the expectation on the retake is for my score to jump from 503 to 513, then there's no point in retaking. If the expectation is only for my score to go from a CARS subsection 503 to a balanced 506, then a retake makes sense in my mind if such a score would remove a red flag on that CARS section.

I think you're probably right about not really knowing whether the feeling of doing poorly or well corresponds with reality. For me, the best correlate with a high score, since the beginning of studying for this test, has been the ability to work through each section in its entirety without running out of time. Every single instance where the clock was nearing zero and I hadn't yet seen the last passage on a section, my score was low. Conversely, ending with 5 minutes to spare on a section yielded my highest score.

If I treat the re-take here with this in mind, it might be fair to walk in there knowing I will void if I didn't get through every section with time to spare. Having the 'void first' mentality would likely really reduce my stress levels on test day too.

Thoughts?

 

[Bonne Nuit]

These are good insights, thanks for the reply. I'm not trying to toss aside the wisdom here. I appreciate so far that the recommendations are skewed toward not re-taking. What I would like to know more about is why? Sure, I could score worse. That would no doubt end this cycle for me. I wouldn't have created this thread though if I believed I will score worse, so to me scoring worse doesn't factor into the argument against testing again. What if I don't score worse?

Do I need to improve on all my MCAT sections or else my app will look worse? If so, how much better do my scores need to be? For example, if I score the same on the other three sections but bump my CARS score from 123 to 125, am I screwed? If the expectation on the retake is for my score to jump from 503 to 513, then there's no point in retaking. If the expectation is only for my score to go from a CARS subsection 503 to a balanced 506, then a retake makes sense in my mind if such a score would remove a red flag on that CARS section.

I think you're probably right about not really knowing whether the feeling of doing poorly or well corresponds with reality. For me, the best correlate with a high score, since the beginning of studying for this test, has been the ability to work through each section in its entirety without running out of time. Every single instance where the clock was nearing zero and I hadn't yet seen the last passage on a section, my score was low. Conversely, ending with 5 minutes to spare on a section yielded my highest score.

If I treat the re-take here with this in mind, it might be fair to walk in there knowing I will void if I didn't get through every section with time to spare. Having the 'void first' mentality would likely really reduce my stress levels on test day too.

Thoughts?

I think you have very understandable reasons for wanting to retake. And, certainly, if you improve your CARS score to a ~125+, you will open a few more DO doors by getting past schools that have CARS autoscreens.

The reason I (and probably others) are leaning towards not retaking are:
A.) the MCAT sucks, is expensive, and nobody wants to sit for that thing more than once;
B.) You are likely going to increase only by a couple points maximum if you take it again very soon - which is unlikely to significantly improve your chances;
C.) You're probably OK for DO with the score you have;
D.) If you have a bad performance (on CARS or any other section) and don't realize it/can't resist the urge to hit 'score', you're in big trouble

This is more about risk tolerance than anything else. I believe that an MCAT retake, for you, is very likely to be a complete wash - no benefit, no harm. There is a slight chance that you'll do much better (but that score will come in too late to really help you out at MD programs), and there is a slight chance you'll do worse (which will really hurt you overall).

However, it's easy for me, sitting on the other side of this process, to say 'Nah, it's too much effort for not enough reward, don't do it'. It's your life. If you're not going to be satisfied unless you retake the MCAT this cycle, then knock yourself out.

 

[petomed]

I think you have very understandable reasons for wanting to retake. And, certainly, if you improve your CARS score to a ~125+, you will open a few more DO doors by getting past schools that have CARS autoscreens.

The reason I (and probably others) are leaning towards not retaking are:
A.) the MCAT sucks, is expensive, and nobody wants to sit for that thing more than once;
B.) You are likely going to increase only by a couple points maximum if you take it again very soon - which is unlikely to significantly improve your chances;
C.) You're probably OK for DO with the score you have;
D.) If you have a bad performance (on CARS or any other section) and don't realize it/can't resist the urge to hit 'score', you're in big trouble

This is more about risk tolerance than anything else. I believe that an MCAT retake, for you, is very likely to be a complete wash - no benefit, no harm. There is a slight chance that you'll do much better (but that score will come in too late to really help you out at MD programs), and there is a slight chance you'll do worse (which will really hurt you overall).

However, it's easy for me, sitting on the other side of this process, to say 'Nah, it's too much effort for not enough reward, don't do it'. It's your life. If you're not going to be satisfied unless you retake the MCAT this cycle, then knock yourself out.

I think you're right. I'm pretty split on whether or not to sit. Very disappointed in the end result here, it's lower than the 505 I had on my first AAMC practice test, before I even began studying. I will keep putting in the hours to prepare for sitting for the retake but I feel pretty torn as to whether I will show up.

 

[petomed]

I wound up sitting for the exam, feeling much better prepared for the CARS section. Told myself going in that I would only have the exam graded if I didn't run out of time on any section. I ended up running out of time on C/P and had an overall bad feeling about the section. Skipped the rest of the exam and voided. Just isn't worth the risk to show a decline in any other section in exchange for bumping the subsection CARS score only a couple points. We'll see how the cycle goes.

Thanks for the input.

 

[m22499]

I wound up sitting for the exam, feeling much better prepared for the CARS section. Told myself going in that I would only have the exam graded if I didn't run out of time on any section. I ended up running out of time on C/P and had an overall bad feeling about the section. Skipped the rest of the exam and voided. Just isn't worth the risk to show a decline in any other section in exchange for bumping the subsection CARS score only a couple points. We'll see how the cycle goes.

Thanks for the input.

What did you use for your CARS practice?

 

[petomed]

All the AAMC material, Exam Krackers, Exam Krackers 101 Passages, Princeton Review, JW daily passages, and even JW's MCAT CARS Strategy Course (which is 75% gimmick in my opinion). Is there anything in particular you would recommend?

I just don't read at the level the CARS section, or the MCAT in general--demands. At least not with the speed and efficiency required by that test. And that's all on me. I never prioritized reading. Less subjective areas, like math and physics, are where I spent my time. Reading was something I would do someday, but not today.

I see the value of reading now and it goes far beyond the MCAT or medical school. With that being said, standardized tests, and the inherent need to read fast and critically--aren't going anywhere if pursuing medical school. I've already picked up my first library card and am full steam ahead on being a lifelong reader.

I'm all ears if anyone can recommend some interesting good reads.

 

[Dral]

I'll be honest, I am not too familiar with CARS. Back when I took it, it as reading passages and answering questions about those passages. I may assume CARS is just sorta the reincarnation of that section.

If that is the case, my recommendation is to try to digest as many types of things as possible including straight fiction, technical writing, scientific writing, non-fiction, history...you get the idea.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I see the value of reading now and it goes far beyond the MCAT or medical school. With that being said, standardized tests, and the inherent need to read fast and critically--aren't going anywhere if pursuing medical school. I've already picked up my first library card and am full steam ahead on being a lifelong reader.

I'm all ears if anyone can recommend some interesting good reads.

Really, you can't go wrong if you just start reading anything that interests you - so long as you do it on a regular/daily basis. But start practicing reading everything with a critical eye - who is the intended audience? In what kind of light does the author frame his/her subjects? Do you notice any bias?

Longform.org has an extensive collection of interesting fiction, long nonfiction articles, and essays. They have curated pieces on almost every subject imaginable from a wide array of sources. I always queue up a few longform articles on my tablet before I board a plane - I'll usually be able to finish 2-4 pieces by the time I arrive at my destination. If you read an article you like, go to the original source and try to find more like it.

If you have access to a physical or digital edition of a major newspaper, try to make a habit of reading the paper every day.

I am also very partial to the New Yorker, Harper's, and Propublica. These have some really interesting reads/journalism.

 

[Dral]

This looks like a reasonable source:

MCAT CARS: Strategies from a 528 Scorer — Shemmassian Academic Consulting

High-yield tips to help you improve your MCAT CARS score, plus a practice passage

www.shemmassianconsulting.com

Now that I look at it, it seems the CARS section is a bit different than the verbal reasoning section when I took the MCAT. Back then I believe I remember natural sciences and technical writing on it, but it seems now it's pretty much social sciences/humanities passages.

Oh jeez, looking into this, I'm so glad I'm done with this exam lol. On the good side, at least you folks don't have to write essays like we did back in the day.