when should I retake my mcat

[cathym5]

Hi
I am trying to apply to the 2023-2024 cycle for MD schools

I have a 4.0, lots of research hours, clinical hours (not a lot i think to be competitive), president of a club for breast cancer awareness and other stuff.
But i messed up my mcat. I got a little too stressed and was not able to finish the sections.

I have my retake on June 16th but I don't feel I will be done with my review for retake.
I think I might push my date to late of June or even early July.

But I don't want to be too late applying to this cycle or at a disadvantage.
I am very conflicted and honestly mad at myself for messing up my mcat.
I scored a 509 but my average FL were around 518.
I did not think my MCAT was super hard and I could have done a little better if I was calm and focus on my weak points.

I don't know how to move forward. I was planning to work on my application after I take my mcat in June 16th.
I need some help.

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[GoSpursGo]

I'll just ask the obvious question--do you NEED to retake? Regardless of the reason for why you underperformed, in general I do not see a significant 5-10 point bump when someone rushes to retake, and with a 4.0 you likely are better than 50/50 on getting accepted depending on your state of residence and willingness to apply to DO. That's probably not the "tier" of school that you were aiming for with a 4.0, but it is what it is.

If you are determined to retake, then take it when you are ready and when you are scoring on your practice exams. If you retake and don't improve, or do worse, you will do significant damage to your chances.

 

[Dantes]

If your 518 average was AAMC FLs taken under standard testing conditions, I think your potential is much higher than 509. The problem is if you've exhausted all materials. You mention not being done with review, but it sounds like testing anxiety and I'm not sure how much extra review or even practice tests would help in this situation. If you can get that under control (easier said than done I know) then it would be worth retaking. When did you take the exam and what have you done since?

But to answer your question, yes the later you push back the more you'll be at a disadvantage, especially since primary apps open in June. That said, don't rush to retake it if you're not in the right state of mind.

 

[Master of Cloak]

I had something similar happen last year. 4.0 and scored a 510 on my April mcat when my FL average was 10 points higher. I retook it in July and scored a 520. I spent all of may finishing my primary and then spent all of June and the first two weeks of July studying for the MCAT. After I took it I started prewriting secondaries for all my state schools because I was gonna apply to them regardless of my score. Fortunately Or unfortunately (however you want to look at it) I got 2 IIs and 1 A from the cycle. Both IIs were from state schools.