"Bad" Test Taker - No Overall Improvements

[BlueFox]

Okay, I've read a little of what people say about bad test takers here and I hope some are more understanding than what I've read.

My academic background:
I maintained a ~3.78 overall GPA in college until I hit Organic Chem and upper division courses, and since then took a steady decline. My current GPA is 3.55. I have been granted academic scholarship for about half of my university years with my GPA.

My concern:
I'm discouraged because despite a huge amount of preparation, I cannot improve my MCAT practice test scores to be in a competitive (or even average) range, and I don't know what to do differently. I'm afraid if I do poorly (the same I've been doing), re-taking it will not provide me a better score, considering my consistent trend up to this point.

My efforts:
1. I have documented my study time over the last 6 months that were devoted purely to MCAT preparation with a phone app. My study time is just over 400 hours now.
2. I took a prep course, and followed their advice when it came to strategy, study, scheduling study time, attending class, etc.
3. I have taken the 8 AAMC practice tests currently offered, twice (ALL of them under timed conditions), and all of the self assessments currently available for purchase.
4. I review subjects I am weak on, I make flashcards, I draw pictures, I explain concepts to others, I make spreadsheets to track my progress, etc. etc.
5. I've estimated that I've attempted ~3,000 questions (some are repeats from doing AAMC practice tests twice)

Possible issues:
1. I overthink/overanalyze?
---I have attempted to overcome this with little to no success. I used to dive into question stems really deep, and sometimes felt I knew too much to get it right because I overcomplicate (attacking the question from 10 different angles can make choosing the correct answer tricky). I think I have really simplified my thinking when it comes to this problem, but so far my attempts have proved futile.
2. I don't trust myself when I actually do know the answer?
---Same as above, I have really attempted to combat this, even writing myself notes during the "tutorial" time to see throughout the test as a reminder "TRUST yourself."

My AAMC Practice Test Scores:
3: PS-6, VR-10, BS-7 (23)
4: PS-8, VR-8, BS-9 (25)
5: PS-6, VR-8, BS-10 (24)
7: PS-6, VR-4, BS-8 (18)
8: PS-7, VR-7, BS-9 (23)
9: PS-8, VR-11, BS-9 (28)
10: PS-8, VR-8, BS-8 (24)
11: PS-6, VR-8, BS-7 (21)
Avg: PS-7, VR-8, BS-8 (23)

I know I'm not stupid, but seriously, what gives. I hope you guys can offer some support, because I really hope to be accepted into a medical school, and have given it everything I know what to give to do well on this. I take the MCAT soon and I am applying this cycle as well.

My practice test performance makes me afraid there's something wrong with me or that I'm not going to do well in a medical school?

My prep course instructor struggled to give me advice because he was a "good" test taker, and so were all of the other instructors for the prep course, and I was told that I don't exhibit the usual lack of knowledge that accompanies poor test scores.

I don't have a plan "B" and never have had one. I've tried other career paths and medical school is the one I believe suits me best. I don't think I'm too dumb to be a doctor, but it's really discouraging to try so hard, and then overall, my average is the very same as the first test practice I ever took.

Is there anyone else with the same situation that you've overcome or are going through, or any advice or suggestions, or even just some hope that I can be a good doctor despite my inability to perform even at the national average on the MCAT?

For all those who hardly study and do extremely well, sometimes I really want to punch you. I wish I had that.

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[brood910]

Scores below 10 on science sections mean you are lacking content review, not test taking skills. Especially those 6 and 7 tell me that you do not know the content well enough..

 

[Alucard6]

I feel like you should be asking yourself those questions, there is noway for us to know if we do not know your thought process for those questions.

What you have to do is go back on the exams and spend AT LEAST 3 hours and just analyze the questions. And do not just think in your head what you did wrong, actually write it out. Grab a notebook and go through each of your questions and first figure out WHY you got the questions wrong. Try to figure out the reason: did you forget a formula? Was the passage confusing? Was it content related?

Once you answer that question you have to move forward and see how you can avoid making that mistake again. Write everything down, because doing that will really help you internalize what is going on so you can make the improvements.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Scores below 10 on science sections mean you are lacking content review, not test taking skills. Especially those 6 and 7 tell me that you do not know the content well enough..

Not always true. It can be a deficit in both areas, which plunges his score further down than they are suppose to be. However, content review should be is first priority. Once this gets better, it will help tease out what comprehension issues and possible silly errors the OP maybe making.

 

[brood910]

Not always true. It can be a deficit in both areas, which plunges his score further down than they are suppose to be. However, content review should be is first priority. Once this gets better, it will help tease out what comprehension issues and possible silly errors the OP maybe making.

If you get all the straightforward questions that do not require any test taking skills, you can still get 10. Those questions are not different from the ones on class exams..

 

[orangetea]

First of all great job with all of your preparation, it seems like you are very dedicated. Judging from your scores it seems like lack of content and possibly nerves/test taking could have played a role in your scores. For example it's one thing to know the kinematic equations but knowing how to apply them to a passage is another. The best way to see WHY you are scoring the way you are is to analyze your scores like others have said. Go through each test you took and really see why you are getting questions wrong(is it because you had no idea? or maybe you knew the concept but couldn't put 2 and 2 together? is it a lack of time? ) There are a lot of factors that go into a test. Once you hve done that you can decide what to do next. Just from experience AAMC average highly correlates with the real deal exam score(maybe a few points up or down).

If you feel that you aren't ready why not post pone your exam and get that great score so you can apply confidently. But don't get discouraged just a change of perspective can really alter test results!

 

[Sammy1024]

I personally think that if you're getting around 9s on the sciences your content is okay. I was personally getting 9s and it frustrated me because a lot of people said that my content wasn't good, so I kept trying to improve my content and it was pretty useless.

I agree that you might be a poor test taker (same with me) but doesn't mean you won't so well on the mcat.

For the PS I do believe you need more content but not BS section. For PS I would recommend reading TBR for some topics to see if you improve for that section.

However in the end I would suggest pushing the mcat until you're at least hitting 25/26 area if you want a high 20s score. And for study wise go use TBR which really helped me bump my score. Gl!

 

[SpringButterfly]

your thread made me cry!
I am in the same boat & I still didn't figure out what to do. I got the same advice as everyone has given you above which is improving my content knowledge. I still don't find my score is affected by my knowledge. I've been to 3 different schools & I took some pre-requisite classes at each one of them and got A's in all of them except one!
So, I wouldn't say I got an A because the school or the professor was easy but I did know my content. My orgo professor is known to be the toughest ever and I still managed to easily get an A in his class! My bio professor was VERY tough and his class average for each test doesn't go above a 65 .. he actually considers 65 to be high, usually the average is 55-60! & I still managed to get an A in all of his tests that were application questions and earned an overall A in the course! It was only general chemistry 1 that I got a C .. but gen chem 2, both orgo, both bio, both physics & biochem all were A's! I also tutor my friends in these classes, so I DO know my content but I just can't score high in the MCAT!

Is English your second language? I'm trying to figure out my problem & maybe it's a language issue?! English is my second language & I actually started learning E at the age of 18 spent a year studying E before starting college classes!

 

[cheetoh]

You have a nice laundry list of things that you've done.

But..you can't approach the MCAT like it's a grocery list, and you check things off as you complete them. It doesn't work. Not everyone gets the same out of EK as they do from Kaplan or Princeton or Chad's videos or any of it. Find what works for you; then hammer it into the ground. Learn how you learn.

It's commonplace to make a list of things that seem like they should be "good enough," and just follow it into oblivion. Honestly, it looks like you've spent 400 hours waiting for something to click that you had to know wasn't going to after 1/4 of that time.

Where are the gaps in your content? What don't you know? What are you frequently missing? What question-banks are you practicing with?

 

[Happy_Puppy5000]

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and completely start all over. I would postpone my exam at this point. In your case 3000 questions may not be enough to really "get it." Having said that, just doing those 3000 or more question without taking them apart and truly analyzing them may be futile to any improvement. You have to really take the time afterwards to carefully review every single question and answers in order to see significant improvement. Kaplan currently has a question bank that they sell for I believe $200 (I have yet to purchase it, so I don't know how good they are), maybe you should think about getting it for additional practice. Examkrackers 1001 series, while not in true MCAT format will help you iron out any misunderstand of the various content that you may currently have. Similarly, Berkeley Review and Princeton Review's Science workbook has tons of practice passages, which will help you tremendously if you actually take the time necessary for extensive post game analysis. Best of luck with your decision.

 

[el_duderino]

Scores below 10 on science sections mean you are lacking content review, not test taking skills. Especially those 6 and 7 tell me that you do not know the content well enough..

Scores below 10 on science sections, when combined with 10+ in verbal, would indicate lack of content knowledge. OP is averaging an 8 in verbal.

Content does not appear to be the problem.

If you can get a 23, 24 you might be OK for DO if you have good ECs. That declining GPA is a major red flag though. A 23 MCAT with recent B's in upper-level undergrad science classes is cause for concern that you couldn't handle the courseload.

 

[demystifie]

It is most likely your method of preparation that is not working. If you're not improving with what you're currently doing, change it up until you find what works best. From what I've seen, people who are stuck in a certain score range are placing too much emphasis on content review than actually doing questions under timed conditions. By doing lots of practice questions, you can improve your test taking skills and learn content at the same time. I would suggest the EK 1001 question books and Princeton review MCAT workout book (has 12 passages + discretes for each subject). Change up your study method and you should see some results. Best of luck

 

[csx]

I'm having similar problems. I do fine with the TPR practice passages and discretes and I've done some EK 1001's and EK intext stuff and do FINE. I did some passages from my "Official guide to the MCAT exam" book made by AAMC and I FAILED that. I don't get it. Moreover, it perplexes me that when I looked at the solutions, for every question on average only about 50% of people got each question right. Shouldn't everyone basically be failing then?

EDIT:
I just did the bio discretes and did very well. Passages murdered me though. Read the explanations and they did not make the most sense to me or had an obscene thought process.