I haven't taken biochem (reading Kaplan), I'm weak in physics, and just feel overwhelmed and stupid by this test. I'm taking it on May 14th. I've delayed the test twice, and now I can't any longer. My practice scores have been in the low 500s, and i'm aiming for a 507 if that's even possible.
Too Stressed Out
- Thread starter Two Sides
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Low 500s on the Kaplan tests is fine, if that's what you've taken. They're not very predictive of your real score, so don't be stressed out by them. Have you taken either of the official AAMC full length tests? Those are the only real gauges of what your score would be (approximately) today, and they're the best way to figure out what you really need to work on going forward.
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The same situation.
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Oh boy... not a good sign
another bad sign
don't let a test, or anyone, make you feel stupid... underprepared? sure.
Obviously, you CAN choose to delay again. And it is quite possible you should but not just yet. Why do you think you can't?
What makes you feel overwhelmed? Where are you weak in physics? The biochem part is concerning because from past posts over the year, 50% of test is biochem based.
Oh boy... not a good sign
another bad sign
don't let a test, or anyone, make you feel stupid... underprepared? sure.
Obviously, you CAN choose to delay again. And it is quite possible you should but not just yet. Why do you think you can't?
What makes you feel overwhelmed? Where are you weak in physics? The biochem part is concerning because from past posts over the year, 50% of test is biochem based.
No, I can't delay. Weak in all of physics. I'm doing kaplan and Lippincott's Illustrated to gain an understanding of biochem.
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Funny you mention that ...Buy an RV and live out of that
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What part of physics are weak in? Physics 1 (Kinematics, newton's laws, work energy & momentum, thermodynamics) or physics 2 (electrostatics, fluid and solids, magnetism, DC & AC circuits, waves and periodic motion, sound, optics, atomic/nuclear systems)? (That's how my school divides physics material for undergraduates, into 2 courses)
Also, is your issue related just to physics material or how the exam is written in general (it's a passage based testing, so do you struggle with other material as well or is it just physics)
Having spent some time working on the MCAT, I realized few things:
1. You do not need to know everything, seriously. If you are weak in regards to kinematics, so be it.
2. From what I understood regarding physic's material is that it is more oriented toward 2nd portion (electrostatics, fluids...)
3. General consensus is examkrackers FLs (especially 3 & 4) are the most representative, so I recommend you take a look at that. FYI they are sold separately (I think $50 per exam), so you don't have to buy them all if you can't afford it.
4. For Biochemistry, I agree with @Ad2b. It is a MUST know! I can't emphasize enough on its importance. Do not take the exam if you are weak or have not finished studying it.
5. Don't forget to compare your scores with others for reference. Look for MCAT 2015 Score Spreadsheet in @mcatjelly signature.
6. If you are scoring well below your target, then you're probably not ready. And if you're not ready, do not take it, even if the whole world screams at you.
Also, is your issue related just to physics material or how the exam is written in general (it's a passage based testing, so do you struggle with other material as well or is it just physics)
Having spent some time working on the MCAT, I realized few things:
1. You do not need to know everything, seriously. If you are weak in regards to kinematics, so be it.
2. From what I understood regarding physic's material is that it is more oriented toward 2nd portion (electrostatics, fluids...)
3. General consensus is examkrackers FLs (especially 3 & 4) are the most representative, so I recommend you take a look at that. FYI they are sold separately (I think $50 per exam), so you don't have to buy them all if you can't afford it.
4. For Biochemistry, I agree with @Ad2b. It is a MUST know! I can't emphasize enough on its importance. Do not take the exam if you are weak or have not finished studying it.
5. Don't forget to compare your scores with others for reference. Look for MCAT 2015 Score Spreadsheet in @mcatjelly signature.
6. If you are scoring well below your target, then you're probably not ready. And if you're not ready, do not take it, even if the whole world screams at you.
No auto insurance? That's kind of like a tax...
Yeah
How about building a cabin out in the Rockies without a mailing address and fishing for food? That way you can avoid sales tax on buying stuff too 
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@Two Sides You sound like your still well below where you want to be for your score goal. You have consistently scored the low 500s across 3 different testing platforms, including the AAMC sample test. Could you go up to a 507, possibly but in my experience it is not very likely, and not possible without a serious overhaul to your study approach.
In my 10+ years of MCAT and medical experience, I have seen cases where 35 days is enough time to affect this level of change with the proper work but again, it is the exception, not the rule.
When you review the exams, are you examining your wrong answers, identifying if it was a science issue or an MCAT issue that led to the mistake? These are two very different problems with 2 different solutions.
Having never taken a Biochemistry course before is not a death blow for medical school or the MCAT, but you have a long, uphill climb to do and not enough time to effectively do it. If you insist on 5/14, prioritize the high yield biochemistry and then work your way out from there. You do not have time to learn all the pathway details in a month, nor should you waste time trying if you are dead set on a May 14 exam date. Those details may be worth a few points on test day so you will be unlikely to get those few questions where the AAMC expects you to know random structures/names important to the metabolic pathways. That is a serious blow to your 507 score chances and one that you cannot make up in other areas.
How is your timing in each section? Do you end up running out of time in any of them? Are you able to find passage information when you need it? How do you mark up or keep track of passage info? Is it working for you?
Assuming you stay with your current test date, you should be doing 1-2 Full Lengths a week in this "final" month. Take your time, sometimes up to 2 days, reviewing and then reading or practicing questions based on what you missed on the exam. Its true value comes from learning from your mistakes. You performance on the AAMC scored exam will be your best predictor. If you are still >4 points from your score goal by 7-10 days out, I would say you know with near certainty you will not achieve your score goal. Do you really want to potentially waste 3 more weeks of valuable material when you know you should seriously consider pushing back? 1 more month or even 2 won't kill your application chances even for this cycle, but a bad MCAT score will. If you do extend your studies and want more exams as you stated above, NextStep sells exams in blocks of 3, 5, and 10 (you can get an entire full length for free, save $) and they are more representative of the scores and passage types the AAMC provides.
If you do decide to stick with the May 14th date (bad idea) then your final month you should be focusing on the AAMC material you have when not taking full length exams. How have you been doing on the section pack, Q bank, old AAMC full lengths? The closer you can bring your thinking into line with the AAMC, the better you will do, regardless of scientific strengths/weaknesses.
I am offering this advice as someone who has worked with the MCAT personally and professionally for over 10 years as well as seeing 1st hand what it takes to succeed in medical school. The ultimate decision is up to you, and no one else here on SDN. What you want is possible but you're effectively hoping for a miracle, which is not reliable enough for this important exam.
Hope this helps, good luck!
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Hey guys, I appreciate all of the responses and all of the effort into them. I have praying I receive a 125 in chem/phys, 128 in cars, 126 in bio/biochem, and 128 in psych/soc. I know that one can never plan on certain scores, but this is my ball park range. I'm focusing all of my effort into biochem atm, and am doing a practice fl every week (tomorrow's my next one). As soon as biochem is done, i'll be doing 2 a week and will be focusing on my weak areas. Once again, thank you guys for assisting me in my struggle. I wish you all the best of luck on the mcat, premed studies, interviewing, medical school, and the future.
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@Two Sides - I realize this is a tough situation for you, and I'm tempted to be encouraging but I want to be honest with you. I think this is a common situation you find yourself in. I can't emphasize it enough, Don't take the MCAT until you are ready to take the MCAT. Anyone advising you that "it'll work out" is trying to boost your spirits, but the truth is that the MCAT is probably the hardest standardized test in existence and it is the single largest barrier for most applicants to getting into medical school. This test eats up and spits out thousands of smart, highly motivated students each year and is one of the largest reason why those half of medical school applicants who don't get into medical school each year are rejected.
I don't mean to be blunt, but how many times you've previously postponed has nothing to do with whether or not you should take the test on May 14th. If you rush to take the MCAT, the problem is two-fold, one you burn up your one freebie. Medical schools (except the top-tier ones) don't care that much if you don't do well on your first MCAT attempt if your second one is stellar. This is not the case on MCAT attempt number three. By taking the test when you're fairly confident you're not going to get the score you want/need (which is a reasonably safe assumption if a month out you've yet to score close to where you want to be, let alone do so consistently) you put an incredible amount of pressure on yourself for your second attempt. Simply put, it is incredibly rare for someone to take the MCAT three times and get in. I've taught for a number of years and have never heard of it. Sure, there's someone out there, but by-in-large, it's a "game over" stamp on your application. There are so many smart people applying, why take a risk on someone who struggled so much with a test other people don't. Medicine is all about taking tests.
The second major problem is that if you follow the advice of some in this thread of "working really hard this month" and using "all the AAMC materials," you've basically wasted the best materials on an attempt that's unlikely to get you the score you want/need. Of course you can review the material and use it again, but the "newness" and "novelty" factor of having never seen the problems before is lost. With so few new MCAT resources having been released by the AAMC, this is an even worse problem. If you don't believe me on this, just search on this forum about people retaking AAMC practice tests. Their scores of course jump very high, but they're inflated because they've seen the problems before.
As difficult and discouraging as it may be, if you are serious about wanting to go to medical school and aren't consistently scoring where you want to be or really close to it, my advice would be to postpone and give yourself a fighting chance. I don't think it's likely you'll raise your score that much in a month, especially if you haven't taken Bio-chem. I wouldn't push the test date back one month as someone else says. I'd push back to a mid July date. Even if you can't apply this cycle (which you can apply this cycle with a July date if the other parts of your application are reasonably strong) you'll be ready come next year. It would be better to work at Burger King for a year than to ruin your medical school chances just because you took the MCAT too many times.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but just honest with what I've seen in my years of working with MCAT students and in my own journey as a pre-med. Regardless of whatever you decide, I wish you luck!
I don't mean to be blunt, but how many times you've previously postponed has nothing to do with whether or not you should take the test on May 14th. If you rush to take the MCAT, the problem is two-fold, one you burn up your one freebie. Medical schools (except the top-tier ones) don't care that much if you don't do well on your first MCAT attempt if your second one is stellar. This is not the case on MCAT attempt number three. By taking the test when you're fairly confident you're not going to get the score you want/need (which is a reasonably safe assumption if a month out you've yet to score close to where you want to be, let alone do so consistently) you put an incredible amount of pressure on yourself for your second attempt. Simply put, it is incredibly rare for someone to take the MCAT three times and get in. I've taught for a number of years and have never heard of it. Sure, there's someone out there, but by-in-large, it's a "game over" stamp on your application. There are so many smart people applying, why take a risk on someone who struggled so much with a test other people don't. Medicine is all about taking tests.
The second major problem is that if you follow the advice of some in this thread of "working really hard this month" and using "all the AAMC materials," you've basically wasted the best materials on an attempt that's unlikely to get you the score you want/need. Of course you can review the material and use it again, but the "newness" and "novelty" factor of having never seen the problems before is lost. With so few new MCAT resources having been released by the AAMC, this is an even worse problem. If you don't believe me on this, just search on this forum about people retaking AAMC practice tests. Their scores of course jump very high, but they're inflated because they've seen the problems before.
As difficult and discouraging as it may be, if you are serious about wanting to go to medical school and aren't consistently scoring where you want to be or really close to it, my advice would be to postpone and give yourself a fighting chance. I don't think it's likely you'll raise your score that much in a month, especially if you haven't taken Bio-chem. I wouldn't push the test date back one month as someone else says. I'd push back to a mid July date. Even if you can't apply this cycle (which you can apply this cycle with a July date if the other parts of your application are reasonably strong) you'll be ready come next year. It would be better to work at Burger King for a year than to ruin your medical school chances just because you took the MCAT too many times.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but just honest with what I've seen in my years of working with MCAT students and in my own journey as a pre-med. Regardless of whatever you decide, I wish you luck!
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You've also posted this situation on reddit and you're consistently getting the same answer: postpone because you're not prepared enough to reach your goal score. It's not about being "scared" - you are simply refusing to listen to any reasonable advice people are giving you.
