anyone do crappy on the mcat but then rock the boards?

[realruby2000]

they say mcat scores correlate well with board performance. Anyone do a "not so good job" on the mcat but scored competative on the boards?... and i know this might sound kinda dumb but, the mcat verbal killed my mcat score...is there anything similar at all to the verbal section on the USMLE?

thanks

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[dwstranger]

US med schools use the rationale that performance on the MCAT is an indication of how one will perform on the USMLE when they reject someone who has low MCAT scores. I'm here to say that one does not necessarily predict the other. I ended up going to school in Mexico because of rejections by US schools. I took Step 1 last summer and did fine... better than "just passing" -- but not as well as my classmate who got a 231... So you may not get into a US school with crappy MCATs, but you can still score high enough on the USMLE to get a competitive residency.

As far as verbal -- it's definitely written to weed out non-English speakers, given that it's a timed test and you have to have a certain level of vocabulary to get through it. But there's no verbal section, per se. It's all science, which is probably what saved my butt...

 

[GTMD2Bee]

I'm not sure how much of a correlation there is between the MCAT and the boards, but I would not underestimate the importance of the verbal section. Step 2 has some notoriously long passages, and is far more time consuming I thought. I was finished with Step 1 by noon. Step 2 took me until almost 5pm, granted I used my breaks, but you need it because most of the sections require all of your time. I can easily see how anyone who had difficulty reading and comprehending the verbal passages on the MCAT would have trouble with Step 2.

 

[Fanconi]

To answer your original questions, YES!

My board scores were way better than my MCAT, although the highest score on my MCAT was the verbal section.

Hmmmmmm.....

 

[durphy]

Oops, I put up another separate post in the other forum before I looked in here but here it goes again: Totally, you can do well on Step 1 and not have done as well on the MCAT. Conversely, it may go the other way for you. The studies show that there may, in fact, be a correlation between the 2. But there's no reason why you can't break the rule, like me. The point is you never know. I got a 260 Step 1 and scored 30 on the MCAT (which I thought was low). Funny, I did horribly on the verbal MCAT section too for whatever reason. Don't count out needing your verbal skills for the steps since those passages can be long and time is a factor for the majority of people - you need that time to get through the passages.
My advice - forget about the MCAT as long as you've gotten past that point and gotten into med school. No one really cares about it after that. Study your butt off for the boards and I'm sure you'll surprise yourself. Good luck.

 

[DO/MBA]

8,8,H,7 for MCAT, 252 Step 1 USMLE/ 95th percentile on COMLEX.

 

[Justin]

DO/MBA:

Congradulations on those impresive scores. I have been worrying lately about my potential success on standardized tests. I looked for your e-mail address but I could not locate one. Could you e-mail me so we could talk?

 

[realruby2000]

Originally posted by DO/MBA:
•8,8,H,7 for MCAT, 252 Step 1 USMLE/ 95th percentile on COMLEX.•••

Wow...how'd u pull that off?

 

[sunny9505]

DO/MBA:
Any tips you could offer on how to study for the COMLEX and what to use? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[DO/MBA]

Lots of luck, more interest in medicine than that crap we had to learn in undergrad, and the knowledge of one Dr. Ed Friedlander M.D. He told me to understand it don't memorize it. That made all the difference. I passed the Shelf exam at the end of my first year, scored an equivalent of 215 on the Kaplan evaluation exam, right before Thanksgiving, took Kaplan, and smoked the real deal.
My only advice is to do what works for you find your weakness and fix it. Take shelf exams if possible. If you need more structure in your life for studying, take Kaplan. If not, get a good review book. If you have test anxiety, take a bunch of tests on the computer. Medschool.com used to have a test, but my second year roomate (who also uses DO/MBA) says that is a no go.

 

[Rock Star]

Hi DO/MBA,

Can you or anyone else out there in space tell me what a shelf exam is?

Thanks,

 

[mmcnemar2004]

It is a mini exam (like 180 questions) with no breaks and a 4? hour time limit. It is the same format as the USMLE and in some cases uses old exam questions. UHS gives it to their students. I don't know where they get them.

 

[JThomas88]

Doing well on the MCAT is imperative.

 

[beezar]

I thought that the writing sample was scored from J to T. How'd you manage an H?

 

[pags]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by DO/MBA:
•8,8,H,7 for MCAT, 252 Step 1 USMLE/ 95th percentile on COMLEX.•••••I must say that a 252 on Step 1 is more impressive than a 95th percentile on the COMLEX.

My stats: 10B,10P,7V,M for MCAT, 237 Step 1, 248 Step 2, 99th on both COMLEX. My point is don't be a slacker in college and take the MCAT's seriously.