August MCAT dilemma

[big daddy 2004]

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Has anyone not taken the MCAT when their diagnostics were consistently lower than ideal score?

Did anyone take it without scoring decently on a diagnostic and still do competitively well? I wonder if I need it to be official in order to get out of this slump.

I am torn between taking it or calling it quits. 😡 My performance has been lower than I desire it to be. 😡 😡 😡

Yes, I have been working hard at it all summer long.

What do you all think?

Thanks for your input.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Have you taken AMCAS's practice test 5 and 6. These two tests are great predictors of how you will actually perform come test day.

Get ahold of Princeton Review Practice Tests A-D if you want a swift kick to the gonads. It will whip you into shape and truly test your speed and endurance. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE... that is all you can really do to improve. Make sure to go back to all the problems you got wrong, or were not even sure about, but guessed right, and read the entire section of information pertaining to it.

Time is getting short. Start taking crack, or some type of mental stimulant. Try not sleeping as it will allow you more time to study and practice. Sleep on a bed of nails as it will prepare for the pain you will feel during the test.

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One of the above paragraphs should not be followed... I'll let you figure it out.

😉

 

[menemotxi]

What are your scores looking like?

And, what tests are you practicing with? Some of Kaplan's test are pretty difficult compared to the real thing. That's my experience at least.

 

[big daddy 2004]

I took 6R but it was the first diagnostic I took (back in early June). I think I scored a 22 but it could have been a 23 I honestly don't remember. I still have 5R to take, I was reserving it until the end.

I am not looking for a top score 35+ just a competitive score, ideally around a 31-32. A score above that would just be a bonus. I don't know why I haven't been able to do it. I have taken a sampling of diagnostics from the various prep companies (mostly Kaplan - this is the prep class I am taking . The results are mixed, evidence of minor progress (26 max diagnostic) but not to the extent that I would like at this point.

I really don't know what to do. I just can't get a handle on the problem or how to fix it.

Can anyone else relate to this situation? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jennie 21]

In my experience diagnostics are relatively predictive of your actual performance, at least the Princeton Reviews diagnostics are. They might be a little harder than the real thing, so you might score a couple of points higher on the real test vs. diagnostic but the difference is not dramatic. I scored 2 points higher on the MCAT than on my last diagnostic; however, some people score lower because they're nervous. Only you know whether the added pressure to perform will be likely to help your score or to hurt it. If you are scoring a 26 on a diagnostic you probably would get about a 26-28 on the real thing if you took it right now. Maybe you can study enough between now and the actual MCAT to bring it up significantly, I don't know. Take a diagnostic a week or so prior to the actual MCAT and see how you do; then you can decide whether or not to take it. But don't just hope that miraculously you'll do 5-6 points better on the real thing than you are on the diagnostic; that's not gonna happen. I'm sorry to say, but if you're looking to score a 31-32 and you're scoring a 26 on the diagnostic then it sounds to me like you're not really prepared to take the MCAT and get the score you want. So your options are either study your @ss off and take the MCAT in August and see how you do, or wait till you're more prepared. If you end up needing to take it again, that's always an option. Or you could take it but don't release your scores till you see how you do. Wow this is a long post. Hope it helped you.

 

[zinjanthropus]

i agree with the above poster and add that, unless you are scoring around a 30-33 on the diagnostics, you are very unlikely to score around a 30-33 on the real thing.

 

[dmitrinyr]

To show another side of the story. For the april mcat, I was scoring 26 in practice and on AAMC tests and scored 24 on the real test. I agree with the above post that you have a very small chance to score in the 30's if you are not scoring in the low to mid-30's in practice. Basically the rule-of-thumb is whatever you're scoring in practice, you can expect to score +/- 3 points on the real test. This theory works often.

dmitri

 

[oldman]

the difference between the diagnostic test and the real thing is like training and gameday. if you tend to be the kind of person who needs gameday to have the edge, then you will probably be pleasantly suprised with your real scores.

Originally posted by big daddy 2004
Has anyone not taken the MCAT when their diagnostics were consistently lower than ideal score?

Did anyone take it without scoring decently on a diagnostic and still do competitively well? I wonder if I need it to be official in order to get out of this slump.

I am torn between taking it or calling it quits. 😡 My performance has been lower than I desire it to be. 😡 😡 😡

Yes, I have been working hard at it all summer long.

What do you all think?

Thanks for your input.

 

[bnichols0330]

I will give you my experience to help you out. I took the Kaplan Review (granted I had not taken Orgo yet). I was consistently making 21-24 on the practie tests. I took the real thing and made a 22 (7P 5B 10V). So the practice tests were pretty indicative of my actual results. I took Orgo and took the MCAT again and made a 25 (9P 9B 7V). This still left some to be desired, but I was accepted at my state school. I had a good GPA as well as EC's. So do as well as you can and see what happens.

 

[vmiskin]

in my experience - you can often expect a fair amount of points higher on the actual test than diagnostics. however - breaking 30 on the diagnostic would probably put you in striking range of your target. i also agree that AAMC tests 5 & 6 are awesome in terms of getting a hang of the instinct on the true exam - the PR diagnostics are hard as hell and doing well on them will definitely be worth 5+ pts on the actual mcat, i think. i was getting mid 30s on diagnostics and ended up with a much higher score on the actual.

 

[zinjanthropus]

well, it couldn't have been too much higher if you were scoring in the mid 30s already