any way to PREDICT mcat scores?

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VickFan

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so the rumor is that- the MCAT score is means of predicting how well u do in med school (or how well ur capabling of doing, for the lazy people out there).

that being said, lets take it a step further.

is there any way to PREDICT ur mcat score?

cumulative gpa?, science gpa?, SAT score?, anything?
or is there ABSOLUTELY no relationship b/t 1 factor and the MCAT score?

btw, wat about MCAT pre-tests (like Kaplan/priceton review). do the scores u make in those practice exams reflect the score on ur MCAT?
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The consensus is that only the MCAT practice tests can offer any sort of prediction as to how you will do on the real exam. And even then only sometimes.

SATs, GPA... the MCAT doesn't care about that. People with 4.0s get 20s.
 
It doesn't just test your knowledge.....it tests how well you can perform on tests.......which is either good or bad depending on who you are. 😀
 
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Yes, practice exams are often a reasonable reflection of what you'll get on the real thing. People often score higher on the real thing than they did on Kaplan's exams. I went up a point from my highest Kaplan full-length.
 
TheProwler said:
Yes, practice exams are often a reasonable reflection of what you'll get on the real thing. People often score higher on the real thing than they did on Kaplan's exams. I went up a point from my highest Kaplan full-length.
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Agreed, and I would add that the AAMC practice tests at e-mcat.com are the most predictive. Even the free 3R test can give you a good idea. Some say it's too easy, but--at least in my experience--my score was scaled fairly compared to the real test.
 
The SAT is actually a pretty good indicator. The SAT and MCAT are both standardized tests that require many of the same strategies. People scoring in a certain percentage of one will have about the same percentage on the other. There is a huge thread on this somewhere. I got one of the guys backing this MCAT-SAT correlation to estimate my score. He was right on. Freaky stuff!
 
I don't know that anything is that great of a predictor. I scored lower on the real thing than I did on my practice tests (33 on my last practice test compared to 27 on the real thing). I think that there are a lot of factors that come into play in the real MCAT scenario and that you cannot put an equation to it in order to predict the outcome of the MCAT test. Just my $0.02.
 
My ACT score = my MCAT score. The same is true for a few other people as well, so there may be some correlation....although very weak I suspect.




Adrian
 
I agree with the ACT/MCAT correllation
 
mcats can be used to predict your performance on teh boards - and apparently the verbal score correlates most strongly to board scores. so this is why medical schools get concerned about bombed verbal sections. also, this is why 24 is a cutoff - people who score below this generally do not pass teh boards.

if you're awesome at standardized testing, like the sats/act etc, then you'll probably fare well on the mcat. it's a standardized test and studying will only take you so far...that's why grades aren't a very useful predictor of mcat performance.


and the mcat practice exams for kaplan i think are fairly accurate, within a few points, assuming that you don't freak out of have a nervous breakdown beforehand, in which case y ou'll obviously do worse.

hope this is helpful.


VickFan said:
so the rumor is that- the MCAT score is means of predicting how well u do in med school (or how well ur capabling of doing, for the lazy people out there).

that being said, lets take it a step further.

is there any way to PREDICT ur mcat score?

cumulative gpa?, science gpa?, SAT score?, anything?
or is there ABSOLUTELY no relationship b/t 1 factor and the MCAT score?

btw, wat about MCAT pre-tests (like Kaplan/priceton review). do the scores u make in those practice exams reflect the score on ur MCAT?
Click to expand...
 
Buckeye(OH) said:
My ACT score = my MCAT score. The same is true for a few other people as well, so there may be some correlation....although very weak I suspect.




Adrian
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Yeah, same here...
 
Here's my observation(s):

1. There's no way to predict MCAT scores unless you call prophetic dreams a prediction.

2. If you decide to do Kaplan, the practice tests are actually pretty good at helping you prepare for the most calculation-intense questions possible on the MCAT. As far as scores go, I've seen most people go up two-three points (on average) from their highest Kaplan score and the actual score.

3. HUGE caveat to any advice anyone will give you on predicting your score: the day of the exam. You might not sleep well, eat enough, whatever, and you aren't feeling great during the exam. Likewise, you really have to chill before the exam. Example, I knew a girl that was scoring in the upper 30s on the practices (like 36-37) and ended up with less than 30 on the regular exam. She worked herself up and got all stressed about it and ended up panicking in the test. Don't do that.

4. I would say that for most people, if you don't study any harder than you have been all along, your score about three weeks before the exam is a good indication of how you'll do. If you're still not happy with some score and put a TON of work into it, you can expect a few point increase. Remember, though, that as you get higher in the scoring, its much harder to increase your score. The difference between an 11 and a 12 in verbal is only something like 3 questions!!

5. Remember, you're not scored on a set scale, but a standardized scale. You will be graded against everyone else taking the test at the same time, so even though something might seem really hard, remember that everyone else is probably also thinking its hard and if everyone else gets it wrong, it won't really count against you. For the most part, if you try to predict your score, you're wasting precious time that you could be studying!

Get back to work!!! 😛
 
skhichi said:
I agree with the ACT/MCAT correllation
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Meh...the MCAT is scored on a higher scale. I scored over the 90th percentile on the ACT, and still scored 6 points higher on the MCAT, putting me in the 95th percentile. It's not entirely dissimilar, but they're not going to be a very good predictor. I also slept in a tent the night before taking the ACT, and I'd never cracked a test prep book or anything like it in preparation, whereas I took a summer-long prep course for the MCAT.
 
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TheProwler said:
Meh...the MCAT is scored on a higher scale. I scored over the 90th percentile on the ACT, and still scored 6 points higher on the MCAT, putting me in the 95th percentile. It's not entirely dissimilar, but they're not going to be a very good predictor. I also slept in a tent the night before taking the ACT, and I'd never cracked a test prep book or anything like it in preparation, whereas I took a summer-long prep course for the MCAT.
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I scored 31 on MCAT and 30 on ACT...also never studied for ACT, and 30 =97 percentile on ACT, while 31 on MCAT = only 84-87 percentile.
 
Did you study for the MCAT? I went from a 29 ACT to a 35 MCAT, although my advisor told me that your reading comprehension score tends to correlate more closely with your MCAT score than anything else (and that was a 32). I tend to rock out with standardized tests - I didn't study *that* much for the MCAT, but my practice exams went from a 27 to start with to a high of 34.
 
TheProwler said:
Did you study for the MCAT? I went from a 29 ACT to a 35 MCAT, although my advisor told me that your reading comprehension score tends to correlate more closely with your MCAT score than anything else (and that was a 32). I tend to rock out with standardized tests - I didn't study *that* much for the MCAT, but my practice exams went from a 27 to start with to a high of 34.
Click to expand...

Which begs the question: Isn't it atleast as important to actually learn how to take standardized exams as it is to know the information that is to be presented on the MCAT?
 
TheProwler said:
Did you study for the MCAT? I went from a 29 ACT to a 35 MCAT, although my advisor told me that your reading comprehension score tends to correlate more closely with your MCAT score than anything else (and that was a 32). I tend to rock out with standardized tests - I didn't study *that* much for the MCAT, but my practice exams went from a 27 to start with to a high of 34.
Click to expand...

My reading comprehension was a 35 (miss 1 point on subsection), didn't really improve on MCAT but yes I studied for 6 weeks 4-6 hours a day, ranged 28-33 on practice so stayed average.
 
Fermata said:
Which begs the question: Isn't it atleast as important to actually learn how to take standardized exams as it is to know the information that is to be presented on the MCAT?
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Yeah, basically. It's easier to learn to take a standardized test in a few weeks though than it is to learn all the MCAT material in the same time, so I'd say the foundation is more important than the game. However, it can be tough to teach people to just zero in on what really matters. I can figure out how to work an exam against itself, so.....
 
VickFan said:
that being said, lets take it a step further.

is there any way to PREDICT ur mcat score?
Click to expand...

yes. generally speaking, your MCAT is 4x your shoe size if you are a female and 3.3x if you are a male.
 
wisteria said:
mcats can be used to predict your performance on teh boards - and apparently the verbal score correlates most strongly to board scores. so this is why medical schools get concerned about bombed verbal sections. also, this is why 24 is a cutoff - people who score below this generally do not pass teh boards.
Click to expand...

This is true, a dean of admissions once told me that AAMC research shows that <23 on the MCAT correlates to a 90% failure rate on USMLE I.
 
striped sweater said:
yes. generally speaking, your MCAT is 4x your shoe size if you are a female and 3.3x if you are a male.
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I know you're joking, but actually, for me that's dead on. :laugh:
 
I don't know about any correlation

PSAT 1340 (no prep)

SAT 740V 710M = 1450 (with prep)

MCAT 1 - 27 (no physics)
MCAT 2 - 27 (with physics but 2 weeks of studying)
MCAT 3 - 29 (with many months of prep! and i was getting 32-34 on aamcs)

Maybe it has something to do with what college you attend in addition to SAT scores. I went to a state school after high school and I know others with my stats back in HS who decided to go to upper tiers and they got mid 30s first time around MCAT
 
superso said:
I don't know about any correlation

PSAT 1340 (no prep)

SAT 740V 710M = 1450 (with prep)

MCAT 1 - 27 (no physics)
MCAT 2 - 27 (with physics but 2 weeks of studying)
MCAT 3 - 29 (with many months of prep! and i was getting 32-34 on aamcs)

Maybe it has something to do with what college you attend in addition to SAT scores. I went to a state school after high school and I know others with my stats back in HS who decided to go to upper tiers and they got mid 30s first time around MCAT
Click to expand...

The avg. MCAT score of Duke students applying to med school is in the low 30's.

I think that it's more of a case of correlation rather than causation(they were already intelligent before they went there).

You know?
 
striped sweater said:
yes. generally speaking, your MCAT is 4x your shoe size if you are a female and 3.3x if you are a male.
Click to expand...


nice.
 
Fermata said:
The avg. MCAT score of Duke students applying to med school is in the low 30's.

I think that it's more of a case of correlation rather than causation(they were already intelligent before they went there).

You know?
Click to expand...


but if that were the case, then sat scores predict mcat scores. Since in my case it doesnt, my opinion is that sat scores combined with what college you attend might predict mcat scores. The way i see it is that I went to an easy college and figured it would be easy since i had great sat's and it was actually much harder. I ended up slacking off in the beginning for physics and chem and i never really learned it til i relearned it during prep. ya see?
 
superso said:
but if that were the case, then sat scores predict mcat scores. Since in my case it doesnt, my opinion is that sat scores combined with what college you attend might predict mcat scores. The way i see it is that I went to an easy college and figured it would be easy since i had great sat's and it was actually much harder. I ended up slacking off in the beginning for physics and chem and i never really learned it til i relearned it during prep. ya see?
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Not true. 😀

It's multifactorial.

Duke students typically have good SAT scores BUT they also have:
1.) Good class ranking.
2.) Their parents usually have money - this means that have been afforded more things in life for cultural enrichment - hey....even more dough to spend on prep courses.
3.) Some amount of intellect. Duke requires alumni/faculty interviews so this screens out quite a bit of people.

I do see your point though.

My post was a poor attempt at a broad analogy.
 
This such an interesting conversation. I scored a 36 on the ACT Reading Comp; but the first time I took the MCAT I scored an 8 in the Verbal Section. AN 8. 99th percentile on ACT and 35-50% on the Verbal Section of MCAT? Doesn't really seem that correlative to me. But, then again, I sort of flipped out the day of the test (note to self: stop thinking you failed PS. You like Chem and Physics). Anyhoos, retook it this August and improved a few points on the Verbal Section -- but, again, I wasn't near the 99th percentile. I scored a 33 composite on the ACT; 32 on the MCAT. It's interesting but I think that's where the story ends...people are naturally inclined to compare the two tests simply because of the scaling system....20s, 30s = 20s, 30s. But, in my humble opinion, I don't think it holds any water.
 
Fermata said:
Not true. 😀

It's multifactorial.

Duke students typically have good SAT scores BUT they also have:
1.) Good class ranking.
2.) Their parents usually have money - this means that have been afforded more things in life for cultural enrichment - hey....even more dough to spend on prep courses.
3.) Some amount of intellect. Duke requires alumni/faculty interviews so this screens out quite a bit of people.

I do see your point though.

My post was a poor attempt at a broad analogy.
Click to expand...


Hmm, your right. its multifactorial.
class ranking, parents with $, intellect as predicted by sat, AND what college you go to 😀
 
It is hilarious watching the future physicians attempting to answer an already answered and very thoroughly researched question based on personal anecdotes. "My ACT and MCAT matched." "Oh, mine was 2 points lower,." "But, mine was three points higher." At least things became more humorous towards the end.

Go to the aamc website, click in the mcat area, and look around in the research papers area, then do a pubmed search for more recent stuff that may very well be online or go to your local med school library. You probably don't care enough to go that effort though. The answer is, your MCAT, generally speaking, has a good correlation with previous and future standardized tests you will take. In addition, it has a good, though not as good, correlation with your grade point average in college, high school, and in the first two years of med school. People around SDN seem to love the anecdote of the 4.0 student who bombs the MCAT or the 3.0 student who who gets a 40. These events are INFREQUENT! All standardized tests are designed to predict your likely academic (read: gpa) performance at whatever institution you will next attend. The SAT does this for first-year college gpa, the MCAT for the first two years of med school. The statistical analyses that have been done show these to generally be effective exercises. Both the MCAT and the SAT are about .6-.7 correlated with your performance in the first year or two of med school and college, respectively. Also note that 30-40% of the variation is NOT explained by these standardized tests, which is why you see all the anecdotes and exceptions.
 
Fermata said:
Psh.

You and your studies with statistical analysis. 😀
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I see epidemiology in my future. NOOOOooooooooooooooooo!!!
 
Fermata said:
Holy crap. Is that profile real?

And I was feeling bad about slacking already. 😀
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100% genuine. What can I say? I have big feet. 😀
 
4(4.5)... thank god i didn't get an 18....
 
I wear a size 6, and I didn't get a 24!
 
AsianDoc816 said:
I wear a size 6, and I didn't get a 24!
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well, you see, i forgot to mention some of the variables here.... for some people (ahem)--say, if the shoe doesn't fit--you have to add in some other numbers... like you take 4 x your shoe size and add half your age (in some cases). and if that does not work, you can take 4 x your shoe size and add twice your gpa. something is bound to work eventually. 😀
 
Fermata said:
The avg. MCAT score of Duke students applying to med school is in the low 30's.

I think that it's more of a case of correlation rather than causation(they were already intelligent before they went there).

You know?
Click to expand...
Whoa. That's not bad, considering that that is the average applicant!

I would agree with your conclusion though, because I went to a nearby state school to save money, and I've never felt that it has held my education back at all - but you do have to want to do well. My school turns out plenty of idiots, to be sure, but if you're willing to work hard, you can get a lot out of it.
 
AsianDoc816 said:
I wear a size 6, and I didn't get a 24!
Click to expand...
No, no. This *always* works. There must be something else wrong... Do your shoes fit you? Are you perhaps really a man?
😀
 
Buckeye(OH) said:
My ACT score = my MCAT score. The same is true for a few other people as well, so there may be some correlation....although very weak I suspect.




Adrian
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Mine too...weird.
 
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