any other retakers for April?

[Mistress S]

Hello all, I just registered today to take the April MCAT, having previously taken it Aug 2003. I waited until now to register because I wanted to take a full-length and see how I did before committing to take the test over (I took a Kaplan test and got 7 PS, 13 VR, 10 BS--almost exactly what I got in Aug, except on the real thing I was 1 point lower in VR).

Obviously, I am trying to bring up my PS score, everything else seems good so if I can bring this up at least 2-3 points (and maybe increase BS a little too) I figure I'll be in good shape when I apply in June. Any other retakers want to share their experiences, study strategies, etc? This time around, I plan to just focus on my weak area (PS) and not waste much time with anything else. I'm doing self-study (like last time) using Kaplan and EK, I've done some review of the material but no hard-core practice (that's what the next 6 weeks are for!). I have the EK 1001 question books for physics and gen chem, once I finish reviewing physics in the Kaplan book I plan to just work through those for the next several weeks and take a full-length every week, reviewing weak areas as I go. One difficulty I've encountered so far is finding good practice tests to use--I took all the AAMC ones in preparation for Aug, so it's hard to find more that will give me an accurate idea of how I'm doing. I have another Kaplan test and am planning to order the 3 EK tests that are on their website. Any other suggestions? Good luck to everyone studying!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Wahooali]

Hey Mistress S!

First of all, doesn't it stink to have to go through all this again? ::sigh:: I thought I would only have to go through this agony/stress once. Ah well. I am currently preparing to retake this MCAT this April having taken it Aug 2002. I am finding so far that it is much easier this time around, and thankfully all the information I had studied previously and thought process that goes into it is coming back to me. Seems like you are really solid in everything except PS, so that is a fantastic start. Your plan of attack sounds good. Just practice and seek out and fix your weaknesses and I think you will do great. There are a few more books at bookstores like Barnes and Noble that contain full length sections (I heard the MCAT Gold Standard, I believe it is called, is pretty good). You're already familiar with the test, so that is a huge step in the right direction, and you still have 6 weeks of review time left. Good luck to you my fellow retester.

 

[premedgal555]

I'm retaking after having taken the MCAT last April and getting 10 PS, 9VR, and 11BS. I think that a 30 is an OK score, but I want to do better than that because I think a 30 is going to be a limitation at top schools...although if I don't start studying a little more, I'll go down instead of going up!

 

[Mistress S]

Wahooali- yes, it absolutely does suck to have to do this again! I took the test in Aug so I could get it out of the way and focus on graduating, including writing my thesis (which has fallen by the wayside lately), so having to do this again really complicates things. It's hard to get back into it, but it seems that I've retained a fair amount of info, so I just need to work on PS. I'm probably going to have to finish my thesis over the summer, which is a pain, but I have to prioritize and clearly the MCAT wins out.

premedgal555- I think you're score sounds good--a well balanced 30--but I know what you mean about worrying that it will affect you at some shools. In my case, a 29 is okay, but it will definitely be a negative at some schools, especially with that 7 in PS. A lot of people told me I shouldn't retake, that a 29 is decent and I'll probably get in somewhere since the rest of my app is pretty good, but I would rather be a strong applicant than a marginal one, and if bringing up my PS score a couple of points can do that it seems worth the effort.

Good luck!

 

[turtlepower]

I'm also planning on retaking in April 2004 after taking the April 2003 MCAT. I have the same problem as Mistress S - a low PS score, in my case mostly due to physics. I just took my second practice test after studying for about 4 weeks and got the exact score that Mistress posted above. On one had I feel good that I don't have much work to do on the other 2 section, but on the other hand I have not improved in PS yet. I still have much ground to cover in all sections (I'm following the EK home study schedule).

I took the step of finding a physics tutor who will hopefully be able to help me out. She apparently did very well on PS. I also have a friend helping me out...

I am determined to NEVER take this exam again after April. Twice is plenty. Good luck to all.

 

[stillpremed]

mistress,
your verbal score is so kickass! i have the same score as you, except for the scores flipped flopped betw verbal and PS. im still deciding whether to retake or not....

 

[a*brown]

i'm taking it this april - for the 3rd time! the last 2 mcats i took were 4 years ago after which i fell off the face of the earth. it takes a lot of guts to go through this unpleasant experience again. but it's definitely something i must do....

i just took my 4th diag with TPR which was an aamc 5R and i scored P12, V8, B9. i'm quite happy about this considering i started with a 19 in january. if i could only improve my BS score by a few points, i'm all set. i'm also happy with my verbal since my real score from my past 2 tries was a 6. (does anyone know how representative the 5R is?)

i've started trusting the system more this time around. i'll be keeping up the good work and hope i will score the same or higher on the real deal than my diags (which didn't happen the last times).

 

[emidesu]

I'm retaking the MCAT in April after taking it in August 2003; I got a 10 in verbal, 10 in bio and 8 in physics. I only studied physics the first time and that's what I'm focusing on this time. The Kaplan book is helping a lot, though; I took 6R and got 10's on all three.