as a low gpa comeback, should i postpone the mcat?

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NuttyEngDude

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Hey Guys,

I am not sure what to do, my practice scores so far are the following:

TPR Diag - 09-07-8 23
TPRH T1 - 08-08-8 24
TPRH T2 - 08-07-8 23
Kapln Diag- 9-10-7 26
TPRH T3 - 10-08-9 27
Kapln T1 -- 08-07-9 24
AAMC 3 -- 11-10-8 29
AAMC 4 -- 10-12-9 31
Kapln T2 -- 10-10-9 29

My post-bacc currently at ~60 hours is a 4.0 bringing my cumulative so far up to ~3.3 with sgpa at ~3.5. I am currently scheduled for 8/23. I feel like the more time I spend on mcat prep the more I will climb and ideally another month or two would be perfect. Should I postpone or should i try to power thru until 8/23 (another 15 days)?

From a risk/reward point of view, i'm not sure which way I should go. once school starts I will not have the time i have now to dedicate to the mcat so i fear progress may slip if I reschedule until January. but i also fear that if i take the 8/23 i can possibly dip kind of low on my mcat score. if i had a high gpa it wouldnt be as big of a deal but i have more riding on this test than your typical traditional student. on the other hand, knowing how important the test is, i can "make time" for it just not as much as a whole summer, like i've already had...

Also, I've focused pretty heavily on bio due to a lack of knowledge from my general/intro bio classes, so as a result, i've neglected phys/chem and feel i have a good bit of gains to be made there. I also feel there's a good bit of Orgo content that i can still learn.

I think what drives me to want to take the test is the stress/fatigue of preparation for it and perhaps, i'm "close enough", but i dont want to be making a decision just because i'm tired, you know? lol. advice, my non-trad friends, please! :D


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Please tell me you're not asking this in the hopes of applying for this cycle.... If you are, take the soonest one and let that be that.

If not (this is what I hope you're doing) and you're applying for the 2013-2014 cycle, then I suggest taking it in march! Take your time, attack the info, internalize it, look at youtube videos to visualize complicated bio stuff. If you can drop 90 minutes a day into mcat stuff until march, I feel you'd do much better than if you tried to sprint for something sooner.

cj8
 
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Here's what I did to keep myself humble, and not complacent.

Registration opened up on Feb 15 for the spring/summer exam dates. I registered for the MCAT for 8/17. I had already started preparing on New Years day, about 3 hours or so a day. get the bulk fundamentals done VERY early, and build upon that, fine tune until a few days before exam day. Start prepping now, register for a march exam date when registration opens. Having a fixed deadline (i.e., a scheduled exam) will help you to adhere to some kind of schedule.

Best of luck
 
ok you guys sound pretty logical but why March as a time frame?

edit: ok...i see march fitting with a less per day commitment. need to sleep on this...
 
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March or April should be fine - the point is to have your best possible score in hand for an early June app, and to leave yourself a bit of buffer if life gets in the way or you have to void the test.

I suggest leaving the practice exams alone until next year. Two problems with these: they're static, and they're old. The MCAT changes every year, and you can very easily see content on the MCAT that isn't anywhere on any practice test. Point being, don't use the practice tests to gauge your mastery of the content - use the thousands of problems you work elsewhere (such as the Examkrackers books) to gauge content mastery. Leave the practice tests for verifying your time/stress management.

Best of luck to you.
 
i started spring of last year, so i'm at 1.5 years now or something lol. I've finished all the pre-reqs and am now considering getting the bio degree since i'm already mostly there. ironic and sad that the Biological science section is what's giving me the most grief, lol.

if everything had gone to original plan i'd be applying right now........
 
i started spring of last year, so i'm at 1.5 years now or something lol. I've finished all the pre-reqs and am now considering getting the bio degree since i'm already mostly there. ironic and sad that the Biological science section is what's giving me the most grief, lol.

if everything had gone to original plan i'd be applying right now........

Bio I and II do seem to fade from memory quickly, ugh! What didn't go as planned?

I'm on track for that degree too. Holding off on the lower level requirements, though. Seems like a waste to take Ecology and Scientific Process at this point. Did you take summer classes? Did you have a lot of transfer credit? It'll take me two more years to get a B.S. even with all my premed reqs done ('cept Organic and Biochem).
 
Well, i already have a degree in engineering so yes i had "transfer" credit in a sense :p
my plan was to already have the mcat completed by now and be applying at this moment, but since i am having more trouble with the mcat than i anticipated, i had to push out the application a cycle :(
 
Well, i already have a degree in engineering so yes i had "transfer" credit in a sense :p
my plan was to already have the mcat completed by now and be applying at this moment, but since i am having more trouble with the mcat than i anticipated, i had to push out the application a cycle :(

Ah, an engineer! Wow, more undergrad after that crazy workload... you are a trooper! :thumbup:

That's rough. It might be disappointing now, but who knows why it worked out that way? It could be your lucky shot next app cycle. Keep on keeping on. :) You'll get there!
 
Thank you. I'm revamping my strategy to work on my strengths first THEN weaknesses, so I should be ready no matter what next time the test date comes up........

Good luck to you too!
 
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