I apologize in advance if this is a really dumb question, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately and would like your input on this.
Given ANY average undergraduate student that is passionate about going to medical school, with sufficient and effective studying, do you think anyone can achieve a 520+ ?
With good resources like Khan Academy, Princeton, Kaplan and Exam Krackers as a guide for studying, good time management, a healthy and good mindset, and actual study hours. Anyone can get a high score on the MCAT.
Of course, you have to be realistic, you can't score high on the actual MCAT if all your Full length practice are below 500. Even then, you can find a better study method and improve drastically right?
Fine let's bite. Theoreticals are usually a waste of time, but this is a fun diversion for a study break.
I'm going to give you two answers, but I'm going to re-interpret your question two ways:
1. Given any average student, with sufficient and effective studying, do you think that student could score in the 98th percentile.
A. Yes. Of course. Actually, ANY student, with sufficient studying, could score in the 98th percentile. Nay, 99.5th percentile. It's just a question of how much "sufficient" is. If you spend years studying to the point the material is seared into your brain, and you practiced enough questions and did enough Hat Trick that you could integrate the topics in your sleep, no doubt anyone could get a perfect score. But years is too long. So let's move on to the second interpretation, which I think is the question you meant to ask.
2. Given any average student, with sufficient and effective studying, within the traditional time frame (3 month summer), could they score in the 98th percentile?
A. Yes, but the stars would probably have to align. You're saying average, so we'll assume an IQ of 110-115 (100 is average of the population, but I'd argue the average college student aiming for medicine is smarter than the average). I flip open to random practice exam in my TBR Physics book. It states a raw score range of 49-59 equates to a 130-132 for that particular exam. A 50/59 is an 84.7, or ~85%. That's right at the middle B, which is the average between the Cs and As needed to pass a course for med school. A random test in my TBR OChem has a 43-50/50 for a 130-132. Again, another 85% minimum. Assuming the average student averaged a B level mastery in all the prerequisite courses, then we can assume an 85% mastery at the college level. Given 3 months to brush up using a schedule like Sn2ed to get mastery to 90+%, with plenty of timed practice passages and FLs, using effective study techniques like the Hat Tricks, and employing effective testing strategies like the Golden Rule and Arithmetic tricks for units and orders of magnitude, there's no reason why a 85% score on each section isn't achievable.
Except its a non-standard standardized test. So you never know the level of difficulty of questions you're going to get, or what topics specifically, or if there's construction on the way causing you to be late/rushing, etc. So you stated the average pre-med student. Assuming that means B-level student (remember I'm assuming you meant pre-med, not average student who was accepted into med school), a 520 should be within reach, using TBR's score scaling.
Interesting thing to think about, according to TBR, scoring an 85% will apparently get you a 520, or very very close to it. Which means that 98% of students score less than a B on this exam. If that doesn't comfort you, I don't know what will.
