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sydd

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Hi everyone, Im scheduled to take my MCAT next week (June 1st) but honestly just don't know.

I've taken 9 Full lengths. 6 TPR, 1 NSTP and 2 AAMC samples:

2/01 TPR 1: 488
2/08 TPR 2: 489
3/01 TPR 3: 492
3/17 TPR 4: 498
3/30 TPR 5: 494
4/14 NSTP 1: 501
5/01 TPR 6: 507
5/14 AAMC FL1: 495
5/21 Sample: C/P 64% CARS 83% B/B 88% P/S 79%

Unfortunately, I don't have access to TPR anymore and dont have the exact breakdowns. I wish I would have kept a score sheet but guess I didnt realize I wouldnt be able to go back and view my previous marks. I took biochem while studying and it really helped me boost my bio score. Im really nervous guys. I feel like there has been a general upward trend but the AAMC full length 1 really has me shook. I don't know how to convert the sample test but C/P looks a bit low comparably. I plan on taking the second full length this Saturday.

I was taking classes this semester and have been studying my buns off. Notably, I don't recommend anyone ever study for the MCAT while a full-time student. It is literally awful. Ive just finished finals and have this last week to figure out if I should take it or not.

A bit of my background, I have a 3.67c and 3.77s with one more semester to go. This summer I'll be doing my third summer of research at the NIH (this is part of the reason I can't push my date back to later in the summer.) I have over 1000 hours of volunteering and 2 years of shadowing at a nearby hospital. I speak 3 languages fluently and have been on 1 mission trip. I went to my advisor and he told me to consider waiting until next year to apply since I have no other availability in the summer other than late late August, which he said would be too late to take a MCAT. I really wanted to apply this cycle, but I suppose everyone really wants to apply as soon as possible.

So now Im torn. Do I go forward and take it next week? Do I push it back to August? Do I suck it up and push it back a year?? Are my stats to low? What would I do with a whole year off?
 
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mission trips r no bueno
mcat is no bueno
august is no bueno for this cycle

take it in august for next yr. maybe take some extra classes for funz. get a hobby.
 
Hey, thanks for replying. Could you explain why mission trips bad? I actually considered it a highlight of my application. What kind of extra classes would I be taking after I've graduated? I'm on a scholarship right now. I don't think I could afford to take classes that won't count for anything.
 
hmmmm.... volunteering and a short term job would be ur best bet then maybe a 18 month research grant type of dealio

mission trips are often medical tourism where kids from the first world get to go push out local providers for a period of time so they can get their kicks in doing care they aren't actually trained/cert'd/lic'd to do in the states.
 
Hold off on the MCAT in my opinion. The practice tests are a very good indicator of how you'll score on the actual thing. You want to apply once with the best application you possibly can.
 
Oh, I see. We went to rebuild houses after the Hurricane in Haiti. Not for "medical" or "education" purposes. There are two organizations on campus which are still providing ongoing relief efforts. Ive been looking around on SND and some people have been saying that they sit for the exam and then void it. What is the benefit of this?
Also is it worth taking the second full length if I should just delay until next cycle? How would a gap year affect my application?
 
i wouldn't describe that as a mission trip then, maybe relief efforts
you can take the mcat in august if you feel like you're ready. voids are for like if you feel like you bombed it or started barfing or something, you shouldn't practice take the real mcat
as long as you don't just sit on your butt gap years aren't a problem
 
sydd said:
Hi everyone, Im scheduled to take my MCAT next week (June 1st) but honestly just don't know.

I've taken 9 Full lengths. 6 TPR, 1 NSTP and 2 AAMC samples:

2/01 TPR 1: 488
2/08 TPR 2: 489
3/01 TPR 3: 492
3/17 TPR 4: 498
3/30 TPR 5: 494
4/14 NSTP 1: 501
5/01 TPR 6: 507
5/14 AAMC FL1: 495
5/21 Sample: C/P 64% CARS 83% B/B 88% P/S 74%

Unfortunately, I don't have access to TPR anymore and dont have the exact breakdowns. I wish I would have kept a score sheet but guess I didnt realize I wouldnt be able to go back and view my previous marks. I took biochem while studying and it really helped me boost my bio score. Im really nervous guys. I feel like there has been a general upward trend but the AAMC full length 1 really has me shook. I don't know how to convert the sample test but C/P looks a bit low comparably. I plan on taking the second full length this Saturday.

I was taking classes this semester and have been studying my buns off. Notably, I don't recommend anyone ever study for the MCAT while a full-time student. It is literally awful. Ive just finished finals and have this last week to figure out if I should take it or not.

A bit of my background, I have a 3.67c and 3.77s with one more semester to go. This summer I'll be doing my third summer of research at the NIH (this is part of the reason I can't push my date back to later in the summer.) I have over 1000 hours of volunteering and 2 years of shadowing at a nearby hospital. I speak 3 languages fluently and have been on 1 mission trip. I went to my advisor and he told me to consider waiting until next year to apply since I have no other availability in the summer other than late late August, which he said would be too late to take a MCAT. I really wanted to apply this cycle, but I suppose everyone really wants to apply as soon as possible.

So now Im torn. Do I go forward and take it next week? Do I push it back to August? Do I suck it up and push it back a year?? Are my stats to low? What would I do with a whole year off?
Click to expand...

An August MCAT is OK, but this is very important: The MCAT is a career deciding, high stakes exam. Do NOT take this until you are 100% ready. IF you have test taking anxiety, get that fixed first.
 
Couple of things:
  1. Your TPR 507 is VERY impressive. If you look at distributions of TPR exams, 507 is amongst the much higher end. I also took TPR to study and I personally feel like they really messed me up. The FLs definitely reflect this, I also had been scoring similar to you on the TPR practice exams but when I got to the FL I flopped. The questions were nothing alike, although I thought the AAMC FLs were super easy?
  2. I took the MCAT on 5/13 but voided because of that AAMC FL 1. My suggestion is that you stop taking any of the TPR materials and start focusing HEAVILY on AAMC material (SECTION BANKS. DO THEM. FEEL THEM. BREATHE THEM. THEY ARE YOUR CHILD)
  3. Spend the next week investing in your C/P. Take AAMC FL2. If you're not scoring +/- 2 of your desired score, then push it. It sounds like you've had a lot on your plate lately and need to take a step back. I was so burnt out 3 weeks before taking the MCAT and it got to the point where I literally just stopped caring if I got questions wrong anymore. I took a break and now I just feel like my attitude and perspective is MUCH better and i've been scoring much higher.
 
Spr1ngrolls said:
Couple of things:
  1. Your TPR 507 is VERY impressive. If you look at distributions of TPR exams, 507 is amongst the much higher end. I also took TPR to study and I personally feel like they really messed me up. The FLs definitely reflect this, I also had been scoring similar to you on the TPR practice exams but when I got to the FL I flopped. The questions were nothing alike, although I thought the AAMC FLs were super easy?
  2. I took the MCAT on 5/13 but voided because of that AAMC FL 1. My suggestion is that you stop taking any of the TPR materials and start focusing HEAVILY on AAMC material (SECTION BANKS. DO THEM. FEEL THEM. BREATHE THEM. THEY ARE YOUR CHILD)
  3. Spend the next week investing in your C/P. Take AAMC FL2. If you're not scoring +/- 2 of your desired score, then push it. It sounds like you've had a lot on your plate lately and need to take a step back. I was so burnt out 3 weeks before taking the MCAT and it got to the point where I literally just stopped caring if I got questions wrong anymore. I took a break and now I just feel like my attitude and perspective is MUCH better and i've been scoring much higher.
Click to expand...

That's exactly how I felt. After my last final, I literally could not process anything. I was so exhausted both physically and mentally, the next day took me until late noon to force myself to go to the library and I left without getting much done. Wanting this to be over is an understatement but wanting to do well still far supersedes any other desires.

I also agree that the AAMC FL was nothing like TPR. I spent so much time using their resources, (FLs, questions banks, stand alones etc) and feel like AAMC presents the material in a way that is much different. That 495 really smacked me in the face. Id blame not feeling well and taking a final two days before on my low performance but I know probably should have tried keeping up during finals and that I not feeling well might happen test day. I do feel like more time with the AAMC material would help me get acclimated. Im spending today going over the sample. I don't have the question packs yet but how much content is in there and how long do you think it would take to get through the whole thing? I have a bunch of NextStep FLs and section banks, and 1 AAMC FL left. I also plan on buying the Question packs today and of course, I can always go over notes. Say I decide to shoot for June 1st and take the last full-length Monday and decide then. How would you recommend using the material most effectively over then next week?
 
the last mcat discussion says that the aamc section banks are among the best representatives. maybe do them?
 
topsoil municipio said:
maybe do them?
Click to expand...

I haven't bought the question packs yet and don't how time consuming they are, however, I can't imagine that they'd take more than a couple of days. So, someone with actual advice on how to spread out the remaining material, and thoughts on if its worth using NSTPs stuff after I've run out of AAMC material (given the question packs can be done in a few days), if you could please assist.
 
Last edited:
sydd said:
That's exactly how I felt. After my last final, I literally could not process anything. I was so exhausted both physically and mentally, the next day took me until late noon to force myself to go to the library and I left without getting much done. Wanting this to be over is an understatement but wanting to do well still far supersedes any other desires.

I also agree that the AAMC FL was nothing like TPR. I spent so much time using their resources, (FLs, questions banks, stand alones etc) and feel like AAMC presents the material in a way that is much different. That 495 really smacked me in the face. Id blame not feeling well and taking a final two days before on my low performance but I know probably should have tried keeping up during finals and that I not feeling well might happen test day. I do feel like more time with the AAMC material would help me get acclimated. Im spending today going over the sample. I don't have the question packs yet but how much content is in there and how long do you think it would take to get through the whole thing? I have a bunch of NextStep FLs and section banks, and 1 AAMC FL left. I also plan on buying the Question packs today and of course, I can always go over notes. Say I decide to shoot for June 1st and take the last full-length Monday and decide then. How would you recommend using the material most effectively over then next week?
Click to expand...

So the question banks are unrepresentative for todays MCAT beyond knowing what content you do and don't know. The question banks were designed for the pre-2015 MCAT (with the exception of CARS), so use those with some caution. You should still do them to emphasize any glaring weaknesses, but overall, just keep doing practice passages. On the actual MCAT you will see maybe 1 or 2 like them, but those would be considered your "free points" and are heavily content based.

You actually scored quite well on the sample test. However, I will also note that the MOST recent 2017 MCATs have shown that the FLs released by the AAMC actually don't represent the real exam very well anymore. It seems that they're refocusing the exam and you can read up on the discussion I started here if it interests you: Warning to MCAT Takers: MCAT Readjusting Again? (5/13 taker)

I'm not quite sure if you're asking for advice on what you should do at this point or just seeing if there are thoughts, but if I were you, I'd void the exam and push it. 9 practice exams is more than necessary to indicate how prepared you are, and I think that you have indicated that you don't think you are ready. You seem eager to get it done already and I'm concerned that this is overriding the little voice inside telling you to just push it (as it did with me, but it required A LOTTTT of feedback from others to recognize my position). Remember, confidence and mentality are incredibly important going in, without it you will likely struggle throughout the exam.

Sorry for the essays! I know what you're going through and I really want to help make this as easy for you as possible from my own experiences and understanding.
 
That sample test you took is pretty good dude. Take AAMC#2 and let that make your decision for you. If you're URM and score over a 500, take the test. If you're non-urm and score over a 508, take the test.
 
Goro said:
An August MCAT is OK, but this is very important: The MCAT is a career deciding, high stakes exam. Do NOT take this until you are 100% ready. IF you have test taking anxiety, get that fixed first.
Click to expand...
Many people seem to ignore this.
 
topsoil municipio said:
hmmmm.... volunteering and a short term job would be ur best bet then maybe a 18 month research grant type of dealio

mission trips are often medical tourism where kids from the first world get to go push out local providers for a period of time so they can get their kicks in doing care they aren't actually trained/cert'd/lic'd to do in the states.
Click to expand...
Classic SDN hive mind assuming all mission trips are medical trips doing surgeries on Ubibwe in the bush.
 
EODguy said:
I'm one of those people. Sometimes you gotta take what life hands you and make the best of it.
Click to expand...
You spend years focusing on GPA, EC's. The last part is the most important part. Yet you guys focus on that but seem to ignore this as it's something like the act or say I'm very dumbfounded by this. If I see I'm getting a subpar MCAT I'll work however long it takes to get it to an appropriate level med schools aren't going anywhere
 
Turkishking said:
You spend years focusing on GPA, EC's. The last part is the most important part. Yet you guys focus on that but seem to ignore this as it's something like the act or say I'm very dumbfounded by this. If I see I'm getting a subpar MCAT I'll work however long it takes to get it to an appropriate level med schools aren't going anywhere
Click to expand...

That was hard to follow, but i think I got the gist of it: the mcat is super important. I agree, obviously. But don't ignore all the matriculants with "bad" scores on here: https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/factstablea24-4.pdf

A white dude with 4.0 + 27-29 puts me at 59% shot for MD. If I push back a cycle, could I make it to 86%? Sure. Am I reasonably confident in getting in somewhere? (including DO?) Yes. I'm fortunate to have very strong EC's that I can lean on. Also, I keep hearing the veteran card is worth a few mcat points.

In my scenario, coupled with family considerations, I'd rather save the 18 months. For example, I would turn down a guaranteed harvard acceptance next cycle for a state MD or any mountain region DO this cycle. And before you (or any other reader) freak out, I have very good reasons, and the things we care about are probably wildly different.
 
AAMC practice tests are your best indicator for how you are doing. I have no idea what FL stands for, but spend the $30-$35 and take the AAMC practice exams AND SCORE IT. This will most likely be your score on the actual exam. BUT, take it in a testing environment, and under testing conditions. Decide after that whether it is worth taking.

PLEASE, PLEASE do not take the MCAT if you score low on the AAMC practice test. Do yourself a favor, and get it right the first time. Waiting until your MCAT score is where you want it could cost you a year. Taking the exam and scoring terribly could cost you several (or the career in general, in extreme cases).
 
EODguy said:
That sample test you took is pretty good dude. Take AAMC#2 and let that make your decision for you. If you're URM and score over a 500, take the test. If you're non-urm and score over a 508, take the test.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate it. Im an URM-African American Female. Hoping it helps my chances a tiny bit but definitely still shooting for a higher score. Is there some way to translate the sample into a score?
 
Spr1ngrolls said:
So the question banks are unrepresentative for todays MCAT beyond knowing what content you do and don't know. The question banks were designed for the pre-2015 MCAT (with the exception of CARS), so use those with some caution. You should still do them to emphasize any glaring weaknesses, but overall, just keep doing practice passages. On the actual MCAT you will see maybe 1 or 2 like them, but those would be considered your "free points" and are heavily content based.

You actually scored quite well on the sample test. However, I will also note that the MOST recent 2017 MCATs have shown that the FLs released by the AAMC actually don't represent the real exam very well anymore. It seems that they're refocusing the exam and you can read up on the discussion I started here if it interests you: Warning to MCAT Takers: MCAT Readjusting Again? (5/13 taker)

I'm not quite sure if you're asking for advice on what you should do at this point or just seeing if there are thoughts, but if I were you, I'd void the exam and push it. 9 practice exams is more than necessary to indicate how prepared you are, and I think that you have indicated that you don't think you are ready. You seem eager to get it done already and I'm concerned that this is overriding the little voice inside telling you to just push it (as it did with me, but it required A LOTTTT of feedback from others to recognize my position). Remember, confidence and mentality are incredibly important going in, without it you will likely struggle throughout the exam.

Sorry for the essays! I know what you're going through and I really want to help make this as easy for you as possible from my own experiences and understanding.
Click to expand...


Don't apologize I really appreciate the advice. Im going to take the second FL and see how it goes and then make my decision from there. Thanks a ton!
 
EODguy said:
And that's just for MD. Add in DO acceptances and that number can only increase. Anyway long story short, take your mcat and congratulations on your upcoming acceptances.
Click to expand...


THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!
 
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