**The Official July 2015 MCAT Thread**

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Medaholic Dr

Medaholic Dr

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Hello Forum,
This is the official thread I've created for all the July test takers. I know its kinda early to start preparing for the July MCAT, but I know some who may have already begun the marathon since the new MCAT requires more than 3 months of study prep. Let's fill the thread with rich MCAT related discussions and be helpful to one another. The white coat down the lane is awaiting us ! Let's go....
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beam33 said:
For as easy as it is to hate on Kaplan... their materials are just about the only resource that I used to study outside of official AAMC materials. No, their questions and passages are not representative of the test in terms of difficulty. They have much lengthier, convoluted and complicated questions. However after dealing with that through all of my studying it really did make the questions on test day feel like they could have been worse.
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Agreed, Kaplan caused me a TON of self doubt and made me feel like there was no way I'd come close to that 508 cutoff score. But it really helped me get all the little details straight and made the larger concepts on test day seem like no big deal. It also made me study crazy hard for it, and I ultimately ended up with a 516, which was totally shocking and awesome. This MCAT year was a rough one for everyone who had next to no prep materials outside of test prep companies, but I know studying the Kaplan material actually really did help me.
 
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just checked my score and I'm crushed. After 2 long months of studying, I receive a 492...
CP 125
CR 120
BB 124
PS 123

Had my application all ready to submit and everything. Now I think I am forced to enter a gap year. It just makes me mad because my practice test scores showed improvement and the AAMC FL i got:
CP 58
CR 77
BB 47
PS 69

CR idk what happened, but my practice scores were all over the place. PS showed consistent progress though and I thought I did well on the real thing. I think the FL gave me too much confidence though. Congrats to all who received the score they were working towards, looks like I be planning to take the January test.
 
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AAMC FL on 7/11: 75/77/81/88
7/18 MCAT: 130/125/129/129 - 513

I've noticed an abnormally high number of people (myself included) saying they felt great about CARS just to see their score much lower than expected. For the April people, psych was the section that threw people for a loop, but it looks like it was CARS for this release.
 
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I think it's possible that because most people do reasonably well on CARS, it's harder to get a high percentile score on it. Does that make sense?
 
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Yeah it does, I just found it interesting that so many people are saying they felt great and had a score much lower than the average for the other three. But then again, it could just be me looking for others in a similar position to myself lol.
 
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For those of you wondering if your score is competitive, ask your pre health advisors! They know so much better than our speculation. And while everyone on SDN is incredibly brilliant, you have no idea who will be reading your application and evaluating you. Don't play the comparison game, which is so easy to do.

For the fellow 508'ers I spoke with my Pre Health Advisor who is ice cold and cutthroat (he's the type to tell kids to reconsider career options LOL)....he said I was very competitive and NOT to retake. He knows I'm not applying this cycle. He also stated it will take schools a year or more to figure out wtf these scores even mean.

Sorry for the soapbox but I think it's necessary to encourage those that may be feeling self doubt. Again, you're all brilliant and will be successful. Best of luck 2016 cycle and I'll see yall on the other side.
 
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eartwj said:
just checked my score and I'm crushed. After 2 long months of studying, I receive a 492...
CP 125
CR 120
BB 124
PS 123

Had my application all ready to submit and everything. Now I think I am forced to enter a gap year. It just makes me mad because my practice test scores showed improvement and the AAMC FL i got:
CP 58
CR 77
BB 47
PS 69

CR idk what happened, but my practice scores were all over the place. PS showed consistent progress though and I thought I did well on the real thing. I think the FL gave me too much confidence though. Congrats to all who received the score they were working towards, looks like I be planning to take the January test.
Click to expand...

How were you doing on CARS before the AAMC FL?
 
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519 Total, 127 C/P, 130 CARS, 131 Bio, 131 Psych

Definitely happy with this and consider it a success. When I was studying I specifically focused on Bio and neglected C/P (because I was trying to meet a Bio cutoff), so I'm not surprised about the somewhat lower C/P, though it would be nice if it were a point or 2 higher.

Just wondering, would this score be good enough to apply to any top 20s, or would the lower C/P be a problem there?
 
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Cotterpin said:
I think it's possible that because most people do reasonably well on CARS, it's harder to get a high percentile score on it. Does that make sense?
Click to expand...
I just scheduled to re write in early sept because I got 44 percentile in CARS, even with Kaplan CARS I never got below 70 percentile and I got 85% on AAMC FL CARS so I don't know what happennd ...
 
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striker55 said:
I just scheduled to re write in early sept because I got 44 percentile in CARS, even with Kaplan CARS I never got below 70 percentile and I got 85% on AAMC FL CARS so I don't know what happennd ...
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What did you get on the other sections?
 
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eartwj said:
Ek fl 1- 57%
Ek fl 2- 47%
Aamc-77%

The passages I was doing in between the full lengths would be from 2/7-5/7 questions correct.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Now I'm just paranoid for my test coming up :/ I've been averaging 45-55% on Kaplan CARS and got a 64% on AAMC.
 
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striker55 said:
129/124/126/125, I know that is not that terrible (70 percentile) but I am a Canadian and I'm not sure if you know the hell we have to do to get into school here...
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If you think you can get your B/B and P/S scores up as well, then I totally agree that you can benefit from a retake. I got a really weird score of 130/124/131/130, and I don't think that I would retake just to get CARS up since all my sciences, statistically, would probably drop... What do you think?
 
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srbest said:
If you think you can get your B/B and P/S scores up as well, then I totally agree that you can benefit from a retake. I got a really weird score of 130/124/131/130, and I don't think that I would retake just to get CARS up since all my sciences, statistically, would probably drop... What do you think?
Click to expand...
I would definitely retake if you are a Canadian especially since 124 (about a 7-8) would either not meet any school cutoffs or be screened out here

EDIT: don't get wrong, its very impressive of your score of 515, congrats
 
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So how do I go about letting my schools know that I'm retaking? I've updated it on my AMCAS but is that enough? Since my apps are now being marked as complete, I would hate for my schools to look at these scores only without knowing I'm retaking
 
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eartwj said:
just checked my score and I'm crushed. After 2 long months of studying, I receive a 492...
CP 125
CR 120
BB 124
PS 123

Had my application all ready to submit and everything. Now I think I am forced to enter a gap year. It just makes me mad because my practice test scores showed improvement and the AAMC FL i got:
CP 58
CR 77
BB 47
PS 69

CR idk what happened, but my practice scores were all over the place. PS showed consistent progress though and I thought I did well on the real thing. I think the FL gave me too much confidence though. Congrats to all who received the score they were working towards, looks like I be planning to take the January test.
Click to expand...

I've taken the MCAT 3 times (2x old one and 1x new one). Improved each time. If you are in college or just out of college, don't sweat it. I know theres a rush to just get to med school but lots of people end up taking a few years to get their app and scores together. Now that you know what to expect on this test just keep studying lots of people take this test multiple times.
 
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srbest said:
If you think you can get your B/B and P/S scores up as well, then I totally agree that you can benefit from a retake. I got a really weird score of 130/124/131/130, and I don't think that I would retake just to get CARS up since all my sciences, statistically, would probably drop... What do you think?
Click to expand...

Thats a sick score. I would never retake cause of one section. Can't nail them all.
 
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SerenaStrife said:
So I took the test 7/17 and my scores are:

C/P 123
CARS 124
B/B 121
PsySoc 122
Overall 490

I am feeling really discouraged about my score and now I'm wondering if any school will accept me. I only applied to DO schools and I have research, volunteering, a letter from a DO,. However, I also don't have in-state residency anywhere. Can anyone tell what my chances are? Retaking the test in September isn't a good option for me as I feel I would not have time to study/practice in that short time frame and I would probably do the same or worse.
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How did you study and what were your practice test scores. You should retake imo.
 
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chem/phys- 132
cars-129
bio/biochem-129
psych-129

overall- 519.

Ecstatic with this score, but anyone else stressed out even more because they have to apply to a different set of schools then what they initially anticipated? I even pre-wrote secondaries and everything and now my world is flipped upside-down haha.
 
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Took the MCAT in july and I did horrible after studying so much for the test. SOme of my scores didn't even change from 118. I am sure that i did lot better on the test. Should I get it rescored hoping there was some mistake?
 
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kobryant said:
Took the MCAT in july and I did horrible after studying so much for the test. SOme of my scores didn't even change from 118. I am sure that i did lot better on the test. Should I get it rescored hoping there was some mistake?
Click to expand...

Yes I did. I scored worse than every single one of my practice FL's and my percentile much lower than my AAMC FL (not even a ballpark of +/- 10%). There had to have been a fluke.

... Or maybe I really did do that bad? Guess I'll find out in 3 weeks.
 
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SkyJumper42 said:
Yes I did. I scored worse than every single one of my practice FL's and my percentile much lower than my AAMC FL (not even a ballpark of +/- 10%). There had to have been a fluke.

... Or maybe I really did do that bad? Guess I'll find out in 3 weeks.
Click to expand...

Let's hope for the best. Thank you for replying.
 
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idonotcareaboutausername said:
So how do I go about letting my schools know that I'm retaking? I've updated it on my AMCAS but is that enough? Since my apps are now being marked as complete, I would hate for my schools to look at these scores only without knowing I'm retaking
Click to expand...

I would probably call or email also. Make sure to "verify" your application on AMCAS ( I think that's what you did)
 
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striker55 said:
I'm thinking of getting my MCAT re scored because I am so sure I couldn't have done so bad on CARS especially since I felt so confident afterwards, anyone have experiences about re scoring?
Click to expand...
Yes I got a 2 on verbal when i took the test on january 8th. Got it rescored and no change.
 
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HopefulPilot said:
To be honest I would retake if I were you. A 498-500 is a 24 equivalent. So a 490 is in the teens.
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I plan on re-taking in January. This might not be the right thread, but how did you study for it? I used both EK and Kaplan, and did above average in all my science pre-reqs. I actually felt confident in the C/P and CARS sections when I was taking the test. So now I am completely at a lost on how to prep for this test.
 
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Wrote 7/17

520 total (98th percentile)
130 C/P (97th)
128 CARS (87th)
132 B/B (100th)
130P/S (97th)

Absolutely thrilled with my score and never thought I'd get anything close to that! I would have been happy with a 508.
I studied for two and a half months using Princeton Review for content review, EK 101 passages for verbal practice, and Kahn Academy for things I wanted to brush up on and to practice passages. I also did all AAMC question packs after my content review was done.

Tests done in order presented:

TPR Test 1 (before I started studying)
500 Total (124/125/125/126)

TPR Test 2 (After content review)
504 Total (126/126/127/125)

TPR Test 3 (After content review)
506 Total (125/127/128/126)

EK Test 1 (After content review)
79% Total

AAMC Full Length
89% Total (86%/87%/97%/86%)

Hope this helps. I know I was looking for test scores to compare the entire time I was studying!
 
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icevyne25 said:
I wasn't gonna apply this summer because I wanted to bring up my GPA in the spring. My mcat score pretty much gave me a fatal blow for this application cycle. Got a 494, 3.25 GPA. Only thinG I got going for me is that I'm a black urm but I don't think that will help with a 494 even for DO schools
Click to expand...
How were your practice test?
 
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Well, this thread is dying out a little bit.. But it was a pleasure to go through the MCAT struggle with you guys.
I wish you all best of luck in getting into a school this fall!
And for those of you that are retaking, good luck and study hard!
 
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still sitting on my hands waiting for my primary to be verified.
July 27th s being reviewed today ---> I submitted July 31st, so I hope they get to me soon and fingers crossed it goes off without a hitch.
 
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mel4214 said:
Do Kaplan or TPR sell the FL practice exams on their own? I can't seem to find a link...
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I had to purchase a book from amazon to get the 3 TPR FL practice exams.. Which is actually very cheap though since it ends up being like 35 dollars for the whole lot. Check Amazon.
 
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