horrendously unbalanced 35 - give up?

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aspiring20

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so...i just got my score, and it is:

11/15/9 - PS/VR/BS

first, a lot of mixed emotions

1) 35 is kinda of a high score, so i am happy with this overall sum. my AAMC average is around a 33, and my prediction was a 33 with a 11/11/11 split. so i exceeded my predictions.

2) i have no idea how i managed a 15 on VR. granted, i've always been fairly strong in verbal, but i never scored above a 13 on my practice full-lengths; my most common full-length verbal score is an 11. when i took the MCAT, i felt the verbal was equivalent in difficulty (if not a tad easier) to that of the AAMC.

3) i am happy with my PS performance of 11

4) however, i am disappointed with my 9 in BS, as my biology grades are also the lowest. i was expecting a 10-11 on BS, and that 9 really is an eye sore. because of this 9 and an only modestly high PS score, i feel that my MCAT performance is above average at best.

so the big question is...should i retake the MCAT? or just give up?
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aspiring20 said:
so...i just got my score, and it is:

11/15/9 - PS/VR/BS

first, a lot of mixed emotions

1) 35 is kinda of a high score, so i am happy with this overall sum. my AAMC average is around a 33, and my prediction was a 33 with a 11/11/11 split. so i exceeded my predictions.

2) i have no idea how i managed a 15 on VR. granted, i've always been fairly strong in verbal, but i never scored above a 13 on my practice full-lengths; my most common full-length verbal score is an 11. when i took the MCAT, i felt the verbal was equivalent in difficulty (if not a tad easier) to that of the AAMC.

3) i am happy with my PS performance of 11

4) however, i am disappointed with my 9 in BS, as my biology grades are also the lowest. i was expecting a 10-11 on BS, and that 9 really is an eye sore. because of this 9 and an only modestly high PS score, i feel that my MCAT performance is above average at best.

so the big question is...should i retake the MCAT? or just give up?
Click to expand...

No. You're fine.
 
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aspiring20 said:
but i got a 9 on biological sciences, the fundamental pillar-stone of medicinal science. who cares about physics and reading articles? isnt the BS section most relevant/important?
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Your overall score of a 35 (and a perfect VR - nice job by the way) compensates a subscore of 9 in BS. If it were an 8 or lower, you might be in danger, but a 9 is perfectly fine.

Don't retake a 35. You run a high risk of receiving a worse score.
 
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Agent B said:
Your overall score of a 35 compensates a subscore of 9 in BS. If it were an 8 or lower, you might be in danger, but a 9 is perfectly fine.
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gotcha. that's good to know. it is just that i feel that there's a sharp line between a 9 and a 10. but it is what it is.
 
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Agent B said:
Your overall score of a 35 (and a perfect VR - nice job by the way) compensates a subscore of 9 in BS. If it were an 8 or lower, you might be in danger, but a 9 is perfectly fine.
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+1. As long as you meet minimum cutoffs you should be fine. Horrendously unbalanced would be 15/5/15 or something.
 
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Verbal is the most important if anything youve accomplished a lot. So go celebrate. I wish I had your vr score an area where I'm struggling.
 
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aspiring20 said:
but i got a 9 on biological sciences, the fundamental pillar-stone of medicinal science. who cares about physics and reading articles? isnt the BS section most relevant/important?
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That argument has been made before. But I think the bigger question is: What will adcoms think of your score?

AFAIK, they care far more about your total score than any of your section scores. And a 35 is phenomenal. It puts you in the 96th percentile.

It would be silly to retake.
 
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Agent B said:
Just to clarify, a 11/10/12 retake would be worse than a 11/15/9.
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gotcha.

yeah, definitely no retake. i already took 20+ full lengths in preparation and exhausted all 4 EK 1001 books...can't take this anymore

i will go to war with a 35, MD or DO...
 
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aspiring20 said:
gotcha.

yeah, definitely no retake. i already took 20+ full lengths in preparation and exhausted all 4 EK 1001 books...can't take this anymore

i will go to war with a 35, MD or DO...
Click to expand...

OP, you're the one that started the thread about bitterness and envy, aren't you? I think you have to learn to appreciate yourself more. A 35 is a phenomenal score, and remember how stressed you were about doing a retake after the test? I think this is a perfect example of how you have to trust in yourself and believe that you are a capable human being who will someday be a great doctor, instead of being bogged down by doubt. (NB: a perfect score in VR will induce envy in plenty of other pre-meds..) And don't let yourself think about applying as some kind of conquest ("I will go to war") to get yourself to where your peers are, either.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm preaching-- this is just my two cents, so take it if you will.
 
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ariyon said:
How?!
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i assume you are asking about the 15 VR? honestly, i have no idea. i just felt the verbal section was very reasonable, paced myself well, and gave every question the attention it deserved, minimizing stupid mistakes.

i also had 5 minutes to spare at the end of the verbal section, allowing me to review the most difficult passage in that section.

i did do a staggering amount of practice verbal passages, let's see:

20 full length exams
EK 101 verbal - entire book
50 passages from ivy alliance (crappy source)
30+ passages from kaplan
TPR verbal workbook- entire book
TPR in-class compendium (30 ish verbal passages)
an additional 100+ passages that came with TPR online course

in addition to all of that, i red close to 50 full issues of the economist back to back, sparing no articles.

i also speak english as a second language, coming to this country at the age of 14.
 
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^Now that is some impressive dedication to improvement. You scored higher than pretty much everyone who was native born and came here at the beginning of high school. Can't imagine how long that took.
 
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ive done about a bit over half of that and I'm not even ESL....and I can't even break 10.......

Gah I feel so dumb :(
 
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aspiring20 said:
i assume you are asking about the 15 VR? honestly, i have no idea. i just felt the verbal section was very reasonable, paced myself well, and gave every question the attention it deserved, minimizing stupid mistakes.

i also had 5 minutes to spare at the end of the verbal section, allowing me to review the most difficult passage in that section.

i did do a staggering amount of practice verbal passages, let's see:

20 full length exams
EK 101 verbal - entire book
50 passages from ivy alliance (crappy source)
30+ passages from kaplan
TPR verbal workbook- entire book
TPR in-class compendium (30 ish verbal passages)
an additional 100+ passages that came with TPR online course

in addition to all of that, i red close to 50 full issues of the economist back to back, sparing no articles.

i also speak english as a second language, coming to this country at the age of 14.
Click to expand...

How'd you minimize your stupid mistakes?
 
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To OP: thanks for posting this. I haven't received my score yet, but I'm expecting something similar (35 with a 9 in BS) and was worried. Now I don't need to make a similar post if my scores come back as expected :).
 
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That's interesting, and I could see that making sense, regarding your VR score paired with being a non-native English speaker. You weren't young enough when you came over to pick up the language in a way that you hardly think about it when you speak it, I would guess, and that may have kept you from overlooking things native English speakers might have missed.

I'd like to see more stats on ESL students now! Oh yeah, and like everyone else said, you're golden as far as that score goes. Good on ya.
 
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Because such a ridiculously low number of people get 15s on VR (or even 13+) and because you're essentially at the average for the best med schools we have in terms of your composite (a point under?), I wouldn't retake. Odds are against you for doing as well again on VR, and you've already done outstanding for smacking your AAMC average and stepping it up on test day. I think you're in a good position.
 
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Shjanzey said:
Hey guys, I just got a 40 (20/0/20/Z) on my MCAT, should I give up? I am so depress right now
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when every year, over 40-50 of your peers at your institute get a 36 or above and you only get a 35 with mediocre science grades, you wouldn't be making this type of response.
 
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aspiring20 said:
when every year, over 40-50 of your peers at your institute get a 36 or above and you only get a 35 with mediocre science grades, you wouldn't be making this type of response.
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Stop focusing on **** you can't change and apply to medical school already.
 
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aspiring20 said:
when every year, over 40-50 of your peers at your institute get a 36 or above and you only get a 35 with mediocre science grades, you wouldn't be making this type of response.
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I hear adcoms call your undergraduate program and request the stats of every student in the last 5 years that graduated. If you aren't in the 98th percentile, they set fire to your application immediately.

Score is fine. Stats are fine. Stop beating yourself up, have some fun in the mean time and apply early in the cycle.
 
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aspiring20 said:
so...i just got my score, and it is:

11/15/9 - PS/VR/BS

first, a lot of mixed emotions

1) 35 is kinda of a high score, so i am happy with this overall sum. my AAMC average is around a 33, and my prediction was a 33 with a 11/11/11 split. so i exceeded my predictions.

2) i have no idea how i managed a 15 on VR. granted, i've always been fairly strong in verbal, but i never scored above a 13 on my practice full-lengths; my most common full-length verbal score is an 11. when i took the MCAT, i felt the verbal was equivalent in difficulty (if not a tad easier) to that of the AAMC.

3) i am happy with my PS performance of 11

4) however, i am disappointed with my 9 in BS, as my biology grades are also the lowest. i was expecting a 10-11 on BS, and that 9 really is an eye sore. because of this 9 and an only modestly high PS score, i feel that my MCAT performance is above average at best.

so the big question is...should i retake the MCAT? or just give up?
Click to expand...

I can understand why you're asking this. I think your 15 on the VR makes up tremendously for your 9 in BS. Remember you did above average on the BS. And an 11 in PS is 80+ percentile. Lastly, you are in the 99.9% percentile of verbal, which some medical schools consider the most important section. If you retake then you most likely will not get a 15 again. I think high science scores and low verbal score has its reasons to retake as opposed to your highest verbal/good PS/decent BS score. I wouldn't retake.
You're good. good luck!
 
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johnnytest said:
I can understand why you're asking this. I think your 15 on the VR makes up tremendously for your 9 in BS. Remember you did above average on the BS. And an 11 in PS is 80+ percentile. Lastly, you are in the 99.9% percentile of verbal, which some medical schools consider the most important section. If you retake then you most likely will not get a 15 again. I think high science scores and low verbal score has its reasons to retake as opposed to your highest verbal/good PS/decent BS score. I wouldn't retake.
You're good. good luck!
Click to expand...

Citation needed.

(It's the overall score that matters most. Source: LizzyM)
 
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I just emailed my adviser and he told me that it is foolish to retake a 35. He views anything higher than a 32 as a "great" score.

I will not retake the exam because I've already spent too much time and energy on it. I'll see where a 35 takes me when i apply.
 
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I am still in awe of your verbal....and given that English is not your first lang.....how do you do it?????
 
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bear2roo said:
I am still in awe of your verbal....and given that English is not your first lang.....how do you do it?????
Click to expand...

to be honest, i really dont know!

i read 50+ issues of economist back to back over a year

did 20+ full lengths, TPRH verbal workbook back to back, EK back to back, and close to 200 extra passages from multiple sources.

i only averaged 11-12 on my practice exams, scoring only one 13

i felt my actual MCAT was a tad easier than the practice full lengths
 
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If this "issue" even makes you consider giving up, then yes, you absolutely should give up. One's desire to become a physician is something that burns deep, deep within and if that passion isn't there then you should absolutely reconsider.

I hope we are never colleagues in the future.

aspiring20 said:
so...i just got my score, and it is:

11/15/9 - PS/VR/BS

first, a lot of mixed emotions

1) 35 is kinda of a high score, so i am happy with this overall sum. my AAMC average is around a 33, and my prediction was a 33 with a 11/11/11 split. so i exceeded my predictions.

2) i have no idea how i managed a 15 on VR. granted, i've always been fairly strong in verbal, but i never scored above a 13 on my practice full-lengths; my most common full-length verbal score is an 11. when i took the MCAT, i felt the verbal was equivalent in difficulty (if not a tad easier) to that of the AAMC.

3) i am happy with my PS performance of 11

4) however, i am disappointed with my 9 in BS, as my biology grades are also the lowest. i was expecting a 10-11 on BS, and that 9 really is an eye sore. because of this 9 and an only modestly high PS score, i feel that my MCAT performance is above average at best.

so the big question is...should i retake the MCAT? or just give up?
Click to expand...
 
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soups said:
If this "issue" even makes you consider giving up, then yes, you absolutely should give up. One's desire to become a physician is something that burns deep, deep within and if that passion isn't there then you should absolutely reconsider.

I hope we are never colleagues in the future.
Click to expand...

i have no idea why you would resort to sending insults when i am trying to offer some decent advice on how i prepared for verbal, so that others can hopefully benefit in some degree.

when did i ever infer giving up medicine? i was talking about whether or not i should give up on a RETAKE.

why do people on SDN insult other posters whenever possible? is saying "i hope we are never colleagues in the future" any relevant to the content of this thread?

please don't false accuse me of saying things i never even inferred to.

the whole point of this thread was debating whether i should give up on a retake. and i have decided to give up on a retake.

and just out of curiosity soups, what did you get on your MCAT?
 
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Not to escalate the issue, but OP, your original post/intent in starting the thread wasn't to give verbal advice to benefit others. You started the thread with the title "horrendously unbalanced 35 - give up?" which I guess could be construed more dramatically than perhaps you intended.

Yes, saying "I hope we are never colleagues in the future" and throwing insults over a misunderstanding was crossing the line, but in my opinion asking "and just out of curiosity soups, what did you get on your MCAT?" is just as irrelevant to the content of this thread.
 
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I wouldn't retake that score. I would personally do ANYTHING to get a 15 in verbal even if my two science sections are both 9s...
btw, would you mind telling me approximately how much time you had left when you finished the VR on your MCAT? I'm having a bit of trouble with VR timing right now and I would really like your advice.
 
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aspiring20 said:
i have no idea why you would resort to sending insults when i am trying to offer some decent advice on how i prepared for verbal, so that others can hopefully benefit in some degree.

when did i ever infer giving up medicine? i was talking about whether or not i should give up on a RETAKE.

why do people on SDN insult other posters whenever possible? is saying "i hope we are never colleagues in the future" any relevant to the content of this thread?

please don't false accuse me of saying things i never even inferred to.

the whole point of this thread was debating whether i should give up on a retake. and i have decided to give up on a retake.

and just out of curiosity soups, what did you get on your MCAT?
Click to expand...

I'm not insulting you, so don't make it seem that way. It's funny how PC everything is now. I am simply saying I would not want to work with you in the hospital because I feel you would be somewhat difficult to work with. I have read your other posts and you compare yourself to others far too much, which is evident from your question "what did you get on your MCAT?". Don't worry about me, I did fine. Focus on bettering your application for the upcoming cycle and hammering out those little issues. Your score is fine, you will be fine.

Good luck.

Yours from the crockpot,
soups
 
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soups said:
If this "issue" even makes you consider giving up, then yes, you absolutely should give up. One's desire to become a physician is something that burns deep, deep within and if that passion isn't there then you should absolutely reconsider.

I hope we are never colleagues in the future.
Click to expand...

soups said:
I'm not insulting you, so don't make it seem that way. It's funny how PC everything is now. I am simply saying I would not want to work with you in the hospital because I feel you would be somewhat difficult to work with. I have read your other posts and you compare yourself to others far too much, which is evident from your question "what did you get on your MCAT?". Don't worry about me, I did fine. Focus on bettering your application for the upcoming cycle and hammering out those little issues. Your score is fine, you will be fine.

Good luck.

Yours from the crockpot,
soups
Click to expand...

Obvious troll is obvious.
 
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soups said:
If this "issue" even makes you consider giving up, then yes, you absolutely should give up. One's desire to become a physician is something that burns deep, deep within and if that passion isn't there then you should absolutely reconsider.

I hope we are never colleagues in the future.
Click to expand...

People go way overboard with this stuff. You don't need a deep, burning desire to become a doctor. All you need are stats/EC's to get into med school, and work ethic to get out, and wala , you're a doctor.
 
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Platonic said:
People go way overboard with this stuff. You don't need a deep, burning desire to become a doctor. All you need are stats/EC's to get into med school, and work ethic to get out, and wala , you're a doctor.
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thank you for being practical and reasonable. i dont necessarily disagree that you need to have some passion for helping others and curing diseases, but i get tired at all the melodramatic preaching of how you need to be a saint to become a physician.
 
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gocanes1990 said:
you have a link/citation for that? ^
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m,.vcj[auweijwkajfa are you seriously going to make me go through LizzyM's 10k posts to find it?!?!??!?!?! :confused::confused::confused::mad::mad::mad:

Because if you are just challenging me or being a sarcastic dick based on what I wrote to the other guy, then you are sadly mistaken.
 
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gocanes1990 said:
you have a link/citation for that? ^
Click to expand...

Well, I went out and did it, because after rereading the post I felt more and more that it was a challenge more than anything else.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11617978&postcount=105

LizzyM said:
I'll say "top 20" but prefer not to be more specific....

I think that when adcoms see a 3.95/36 with a retake, they wonder what that applicant is thinking.... with a 34, maybe not so much, particularly if it is something like 7 13 14 although we'd think that was a little crazy, particularly if the second works out to 9 13 12. We take the average of all MCATs taken and use total, not subscores, as the evidence is that total MCAT averaged across all reported scores is the best predictor of success in med school.
Click to expand...

That is one of MANY MANY instances she has voiced similar views and opinions. Basically, it's the total MCAT that matters. She even thinks retaking with a 7 subscore is "a little crazy," given the total score.
 
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