Anyone else get a surprisingly low CARS score on 04/2016 MCAT?

[LanahG]

I just got my scores back a few days ago for the 4/23 test, and most of my sections were as expected (128's on both Bio and Psych/Soc and I felt really good about them, 125 on Chem/Phys and I struggled on it) but I was absolutely stunned by my 125 in CARS. I felt more confident about that section than any of the others, and more confident than any other CARS practice I had taken, and I had consistently been scoring 127-128 on my practices. I was fully expecting at least a 128, maybe even a 129. I guessed on maybe 5 or 6 questions out of 53 total and was reasonably or very sure about all the rest.

It sucks so much because now I have to reevaluate much of my school list. I was leaning DO even before my scores came back, and now I'm considering it much more heavily.

I just couldn't believe it. I've never been more wrong about a section.

Was anyone else surprised by their scores?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[David513]

SO SURPRISED! I did very well on all of my CARS practice. AAMC FL scored=130, AAMC FL unscored=85%. I took Exam Krackers FL3 2 weeks before the test and got around 75% on their CARS, too, which was way more difficult than the AAMC practices or the real thing. I, too, felt extraordinarily confident after ending my CARS section, and I was anticipating a 129+. I ended up with a 125.

I think because our 4/23 CARS was on the easy side, the curve was unforgiving, so my normal number of mistakes cost me a significant number of points. Obviously the onus is on me to bring my A game so I accept responsibility for my score, but still ... I wish at least the AAMC FL scored was a little more accurate.

 

[Wolfpack93]

This is giving me anxiety. I took 5/20 and got 128 and 83% on the AAMC CARS. It worries me that you guys felt good because I felt bad walking out haha

 

[David513]

Looking at the compiled scores sheet from Reddit, it appears that I am an outlier! Nothing to worry about! *pat pat pat*

 

[jesie]

What the differences seems to me is that most of the prep materials are at a given length, let's call it X. About one passage in each of the practice exams available would feel impossibly long at like 1.4X or something. On the real MCAT, 1.3X will be the length of the shortest passage you find. They are all longer than the practice material would ever properly indicate. That creates an unanticipated time pressure which screws with your head, while also giving you more to work through.

For those of you that have yet to take, just make sure you are getting to the point where you have extra time to work with in your practice exams. And be very deliberate about not allowing yourself to panic if time is running short.

 

[Wolfpack93]

Looking at the compiled scores sheet from Reddit, it appears that I am an outlier! Nothing to worry about! *pat pat pat*

Haha thanks for your encouragement. I'm worried because I was super anxious the night before and didn't sleep well, and my CARS scores seem to correlate with how slee deprived I am haha. Oh well it's out of my hands now.

 

[David513]

Haha thanks for your encouragement. I'm worried because I was super anxious the night before and didn't sleep well, and my CARS scores seem to correlate with how slee deprived I am haha. Oh well it's out of my hands now.

Think of it like this: if you felt bad, likely many other people felt bad. That's probably indicative that you will be given a more forgiving curve. I think the problem with the 4/23 version the OP and I had was that everyone felt great about it. You can see this on Reddit and SDN -- people who had the crazy killer B/B all seem to be unconcerned with CARS. The curve is really the only thing I can think that changed between my practices and my real test, because I was well-rested, well-fed, not extraordinarily nervous (though I guess I was a bit more so than on my practices), and I finished with approximately the same amount of time I usually do. I enjoyed the passages, etc. etc.

My point: if you felt bad about CARS, that's a good sign! Haha.

 

[LanahG]

Think of it like this: if you felt bad, likely many other people felt bad. That's probably indicative that you will be given a more forgiving curve. I think the problem with the 4/23 version the OP and I had was that everyone felt great about it. You can see this on Reddit and SDN -- people who had the crazy killer B/B all seem to be unconcerned with CARS. The curve is really the only thing I can think that changed between my practices and my real test, because I was well-rested, well-fed, not extraordinarily nervous (though I guess I was a bit more so than on my practices), and I finished with approximately the same amount of time I usually do. I enjoyed the passages, etc. etc.

My point: if you felt bad about CARS, that's a good sign! Haha.

Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is B/B?

I hadn't been keeping up with the threads on other sites about the 4/23 MCAT, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised that most people felt good about it. If it really comes down to curves than maybe I really wasn't crazy and those 5 or 6 questions I guessed on just screwed me over. Damn, I'm so mad.

How did you feel about the other sections? I was very confident about everything except the Chem/Phys sections (was it just me, or was it ridiculously hard? Man, I took Kaplan practice tests that weren't that hard!)

 

[David513]

Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is B/B?

I hadn't been keeping up with the threads on other sites about the 4/23 MCAT, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised that most people felt good about it. If it really comes down to curves than maybe I really wasn't crazy and those 5 or 6 questions I guessed on just screwed me over. Damn, I'm so mad.

How did you feel about the other sections? I was very confident about everything except the Chem/Phys sections (was it just me, or was it ridiculously hard? Man, I took Kaplan practice tests that weren't that hard!)

B/B = the biology section (Biology/Biochemistry)

I thought I had bombed C/P and B/B and was "meh" about P/S. I didn't think C/P was super DUPER crazy but I am usually not the best at C/P which is why I got a little freaked. Maybe you had a harder, alternate version of C/P? Lord knows how many versions are administered on the same day.

 

[MaxPlancker]

Wrong quote

 

[MaxPlancker]

What the differences seems to me is that most of the prep materials are at a given length, let's call it X. About one passage in each of the practice exams available would feel impossibly long at like 1.4X or something. On the real MCAT, 1.3X will be the length of the shortest passage you find. They are all longer than the practice material would ever properly indicate. That creates an unanticipated time pressure which screws with your head, while also giving you more to work through.

For those of you that have yet to take, just make sure you are getting to the point where you have extra time to work with in your practice exams. And be very deliberate about not allowing yourself to panic if time is running short.

The screen's format just makes the length "look" longer but it isn't actually longer.

 

[jesie]

I know that that makes more sense but those passages absolutely felt longer than the ones I had done before. I don't know. My point was that they will likely take longer to read through than the ones in your practice passages


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Aspiring-Doctor]

I was that student that never knew why I was failing the CARS section when I would always walk out of the test feeling like I aced that section. I was that student that always thought CARS is something you cannot study for. I was also that student that took the test twice and got a 123 both times. The only thing I did differently when taking the test the third time around was that I practiced with more stringent time conditions and with many passages. I also took the passages and pasted them onto a microsoft doc and zoomed out to 120% and practice with this zoomed setting so that I can stimulate the real mcat testing situation. I did it!!! I finally broke the 123 barrier and got a 127. The reason why I am saying this is I was extremely depressed that my score was 123 for the longest time and taking the test a third time was a lot of pressure, but I still managed to improve so don't lose hope! A bit about me…I took the mcat at the end of sophomore year summer after 3 months of studying and got a 26. I took the new version of the mcat having studied for an additional 3 more months and got a 502 (26 again). The third time I took the test I got a 506 (29) and now I'm getting ready to apply! So don't lose hope or get overwhelmed by the # of posts with 510+ because statistics show that there is only 33% of the population getting that score and much lower percentages for scores that are 520+. Only people who do well post so don't let that bother you. Just keep practicing! Good luck future physicians!!! 🙂