completely lost

What did you do wrong in studying the first time?

With that poor of a score, and your doubts that you'll pull it up by July, I suggest you put in a solid summer of studying, maybe more (take the MCAT in January, for instance), and take an additional year off to get some more activities.

If you figure out what you did wrong, and can consistently get high practice scores by July, then go ahead and apply this year.

nerd athlete said:

so just got my mcat scores today and i was really disappointed (24N), i have already signed up to retake july 8th but i really don't think 6 weeks is enough time to bring my score up to where i want it to be, so i need some advice, do i submit my primary and cram and see what happens, or do i try to get quality studying in and push the mcat back and apply next summer? i just graduated so i had already planned to take a year off but now it's looking more like two years. oh and my gpa is 3.5 overall, 3.31 science with okay ECs but nothing stellar, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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With your GPA you'll need a fairly high MCAT score. Don't retake the MCAT if you don't feel ready, the last thing you want is another sub-30 score on your application, and then have to take it a third time.

Did you take any MCAT classes? I haven't taken it yet, but I assume they help. Otherwise all you can do is evaluate how you studied, which sections you are lacking the most, and go at it hard, and, perhaps more importantly, effectively. I agree with the other poster though, if you are not ready, don't take it. Study your a** off and do better. Also, if you have the time, boost your EC's, research, etc.

Let me put in my endorsement for examkrackers and emcat.com. Examcrackers are IMO the best review books on the market and you can't beat 13 practice tests. You may also want to check out gunnertraining. I use it for Step 1 prep and I have been impressed with it. They also do MCAT prep and it is not bad price-wise.

Good luck.

Some words of encouragement: I was in exactly the same situation as you (numbers wise) two years ago. I took the MCAT during the summer of 2007 and made a 24N. I thought I had studied hard, but looking back, not so much. I took another year off, used examkrackers religiously and made a 31 in the summer of 2008. My cGPA was a 3.5 and my sGPA was a 3.3 (I did have a great upward trend though), and I was accepted to a top 30 school and am about to finish up my first year. I would wait one more year if I were you. In the long run, it really won't matter, and you'll probably be glad to have the time off.

FuSoYa said:

With your GPA you'll need a fairly high MCAT score. Don't retake the MCAT if you don't feel ready, the last thing you want is another sub-30 score on your application, and then have to take it a third time.

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Agree, agree, agree. The biggest mistake people make after getting a low score on the MCAT is to rush into retaking before they are actually ready. Take the time to reevaluate your approach, do some solid studying, and retake once you're consistently getting your desired score range on practice exams (also, take the exams in realistic conditions with timing and rationed food/bathroom breaks).

chman said:

Did you take any MCAT classes? I haven't taken it yet, but I assume they help. Otherwise all you can do is evaluate how you studied, which sections you are lacking the most, and go at it hard, and, perhaps more importantly, effectively. I agree with the other poster though, if you are not ready, don't take it. Study your a** off and do better. Also, if you have the time, boost your EC's, research, etc.

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MCAT classes on their own don't help....what determines your success is the amount of effort you put into studying outside of the class. It's very easy and common to be seduced into the mentality of "oh, well I'm taking this prep course, I must be learning and improving my score" as if it can be done by osmosis or something...I definitely did this myself early on until I had an unpleasant awakening with an early practice test. Classes can help guide your studying, but 90% of the benefit comes from the work you put in on your own. In my own case, I stopped going to most classes but worked through the entire TPR science question book thumbup:), and ended up doing quite well...but it's really almost entirely due to the written materials and my own studying rather than the lectures.

I self studied both times I took the MCAT. The first time I thought I was prepared and I made a 25. People say that's "bad" but really it isn't bad, it's just average. Average, in most cases, is not sufficient to get into medical school. The second time I used EK for 6 weeks studying 4 days each week with an AAMC practice exam on each Thursday and a few other days. I took every weekend off and enjoyed myself. I did every practice test I could get my hands on. After 6 weeks I scored a 33.

IMO unless you're some kind of genius there isn't any secret to the MCAT. Hard work = success. It can be done in 6 weeks if you have the motivation. I can't say it'll work for you but it did work for me although I waited a year after my first exam to reevaluate before I started studying.