A perfect score?(MCAT)

[Nutmeg]

Originally posted by CalBeE
I read something on the Columbia P&S bulletin board, from a med student there, that he/she got 43-45 on the MCAT (That was when Verbal was 13-15). He/she said he/she got to attend a special ceremony or something, and there were about 15 people at that ceremony. So there you got, pre-2003, about 10-15 people. Post-2003, probably half of that.

Far less than half that number. Remeber, for every 19 people that got the 13-15 score pre-2003, only 1 got the 15 score in 2003. Divide "10-15" by 19, and you'll see that statistically, fewer than one person a year would get a 45.

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[Rendar5]

The highest score from someone I knew personally was 40. He was the previous lab tech here. Sucked for him when he was applying cause it was over 3 years old and he had to take it again (wouldn't tell me how he scored his second time). I tried to beat his score, but failed.

 

[gschl1234]

Originally posted by Nutmeg
You can't really compare pre-2003 to post 2003, and my understanding for 2003 was that the top score was sent on score reports (I never saw my hard-caopy score, because I moved and didn't forward my address), and the tops were 42 and 43 in April and August, respectively. Many people have seemed to confirm this, though I can't confirm it personally.

Where on your score report did they ever show the top score? I didn't see it on mine and I took it April 2003.

 

[gschl1234]

Originally posted by Nutmeg
Far less than half that number. Remeber, for every 19 people that got the 13-15 score pre-2003, only 1 got the 15 score in 2003. Divide "10-15" by 19, and you'll see that statistically, fewer than one person a year would get a 45.

How do you find the 19:1 ratio?

 

[Kalel]

I had a classmate who got the highest possible score on the MCAT. It wasn't a 45 though, because 1-2 of his sections were graded as "13-15" (something the MCAT people did when the top of the curve is too close to call I guess).

 

[Gbemi24]

Originally posted by MacGyver
Only 2 or 3 people get a perfect MCAT every year.

How do you know that? The MCAT is not strictly curved so there doesn't always have to be someone who gets a perfect score.

 

[thewebthsp]

wait I have a great idea for a new movie next year! "The Perfect Score 2: The MCAT" =)

 

[Gbemi24]

Originally posted by exmike
That also means about 500 people scored between at 41-45. So it is possible... however rare and unlikely it is.

I thnk you mean 50 not 500.

 

[Gbemi24]

Originally posted by gschl1234
How do you find the 19:1 ratio?

By dividing the probability of getting a 15 on the verbal section by the probability of getting a 13+ on the verbal section..

 

[JohnHolmes]

No one "has" to get a 45 each year. Unlike the LSAT, which grades all the sections together in one giant composite, there will be 180s each year, MCATs are graded in sections. I would be shocked if someone got a 45 in 2003. I would love to meet that person though and congratulate her ....

Coops

 

[RoccoWJ]

him

 

[Nutmeg]

Originally posted by gschl1234
Where on your score report did they ever show the top score? I didn't see it on mine and I took it April 2003.

I make it clear the the post you quoted that I never received my scores from the AAMC, and I based that claim on what other SDNers reported.

Originally posted by gschl1234
How do you find the 19:1 ratio?

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/combined03.pdf

Look at 'percent acheiving score" under the VR section.

1.6 + 0.2 + 0.1 = 1.9% of all applicant getting 13-15; 0.1% / 1.9% = fraction of test takers in the 13-15 category that got a 15.

Originally posted by Kalel
I had a classmate who got the highest possible score on the MCAT. It wasn't a 45 though, because 1-2 of his sections were graded as "13-15" (something the MCAT people did when the top of the curve is too close to call I guess).

Only the VR section was "13-15" and in those days, they used the 15 for your total score.

 

[ATPase]

Originally posted by thewebthsp
wait I have a great idea for a new movie next year! "The Perfect Score 2: The MCAT" =)

 

[5oProlene]

My old roommate got a 43 on the MCAT on his second try (he quit the exam in the middle of his first try and had his scores cancelled because he didn't think he was doing "good enough" during the exam). He got into some med school on the East coast (can't remember the name but know it was either in NJ or NY), but from what I've been told he dropped out towards the end of the first year. Last I heard he was working at his dad's furniture shop back in the town we went to college. He was always a curious fellow with odd mannerisms but a sharp mind....photographic memory, near genius at math/physics...the works. I remember when we were both planning to study for the MCAT we both took a practice exam cold before we did any studying. He pulled a 38.

 

[fuzzylogic]

a perfect score will definitely get into schools that are number- hungry, (i.e., a school in st. louis, a school in chicago and so on). i know somebody who got a 40 ended up in a number-hungry school in ny. i am not saying that these amazing numbers won't get you into top schools. i do know that there is a lot more to the application process than getting an amazing score on mcat.

at least i know i will be going somewhere better than the person who got a 40 on the mcat (based on the school ranking system). btw, the ranking system is skewed as well

 

[IrishOarsman]

Guys (and girls... damn chauvanism), getting a top MCAT score only helps so much. I stomped the test (39-41S; my girlfriend looked at the school averages and was like "So you'll get into them all now?")... but I didn't get a single interview invite out west and only a few out east. Midwest I'm doing well, with me sitting on the edge of my seat for the final east cost decisions.

Here's the deal: I completely sympathize with you all who are taking the test / evaluating recent results and the hugeness that it must seem to occupy at the moment.

However, the number of factors that come into these decisions is very large and each school places different accents on different components. It's funny, many people on these boards decry how impossible it is to discern what factors influenced the various adcoms. I think that one can make some pretty good guesses: I had no idea that being from the midwest and a conservative school would knock me out from the west coast completely. Nor did I think that certain schools wouldn't consider me a serious applicant if I didn't wait to send in all my grades from Ireland (which weren't available until October, after I had already finished my secondaries). Nor was I expecting such a huge divergence in attitude between different interviewers and how important "clicking" with someone would be- I needed to learn how to deal with the gruff, old, slow-thinking interviewers.

Essentially, I think everyone will run into a few surprizes during this process- their are no guarantees, for success or for failure. If you are the type of test taker who is worried about distribution at the top of the MCAT scale, then I would seriously recommend worrying less about your exact % and more about asking good people advice about how to better present yourself in secondaries and in interviews. Another good way to get to know the better sides of yourself- get you mind the hell outa this admissions process and go have fun.

 

[IrishOarsman]

I just reread my post... apologies for the preachy-ness. I was just as curious about this stuff as any last year.

Anyways, good luck all.

 

[gschl1234]

Originally posted by Nutmeg
I make it clear the the post you quoted that I never received my scores from the AAMC, and I based that claim on what other SDNers reported.

Even if you didn't get your personal score report the statistics that they sent with everyone's personal score report is the exact same thing they show on their website. They do not give a range, thus there's no way of knowing what the top score was. Obviously not everyone who took the April 2003 MCAT reads or posts on SDN. It's also possible that someone who has scored higher than the scores you referenced reads this site but chooses not to make his/her score public.

 

[Nutmeg]

Originally posted by gschl1234
Even if you didn't get your personal score report the statistics that they sent with everyone's personal score report is the exact same thing they show on their website. They do not give a range, thus there's no way of knowing what the top score was. Obviously not everyone who took the April 2003 MCAT reads or posts on SDN. It's also possible that someone who has scored higher than the scores you referenced reads this site but chooses not to make his/her score public.

You have to understand that because I never got the score report in the mail, I had absolutely no way of knowing what it showed or how it might have differed from the online report. People said that their report showed that the top score was XX, and I interpreted this as meaning that the score report said "High: XX, Low: YY," like professors do after returning a test. That was how it was presented, and wtf do I know?

 

[Tezzie]

I thought that only 6 people in the history of the MCATs achieved a 45 .

And yeah there are plenty of SDNers with scores 38+. But it shouldn't come as a shock considering who is attracted to SDN .